RWBY: Bloody Snow: Volume 3
by Spat915
Summary: After an operation goes sour, Weiss and Ruby are MIA, Yang is going crazy looking for the couple, and everyone else is trying to deal with the ripples of social unrest that the fall of Vale has created. When they are accused of terrorism, will they be able to prevent the war about to break out between Mystral and Atlas, or will Remnant descend once again into chaos? Volume 3 of 3.
1. White Rose Down: Chapter 1

She kicked rubble as she walked alone through the glassed land, searching. For what exactly, she didn't know. All she knew was the instinct deep inside her told her to keep looking for _it._ She pushed over a small pile of ash with her already black boots wondering if she'd finally find something useful.

 _Just a rock._ She picked it up and tossed it with a short scream. It flew through the air in a massive arc as she continued to slowly crunch over the black crust that covered the countless miles of sand and dirt. She looked back to where she knew her partner was helping her look. She was probably at least a mile away.

A loud metallic bang echoed across the plain and Yang spun in the direction of the noise. She smiled and started laughing as she started the long trek to wherever her rock had landed. Wherever it landed, it definitely hit something that wasn't the black crust that carpeted this disaster zone.

She walked tirelessly for five minutes before finding a disturbed area of the ground. She reached down into the rock sized hole and pulled the rock she'd thrown out. She couldn't see what was below the crust so she started digging at it, tossing pieces of dirt and blackened clumps of sand out of the way. She tossed the last plate of glass out of the way and went to dig deeper in the dirt when her fist hit something hard that made a quiet echo. She quickly cleaned up the remaining dirt to find a blackened piece of metal that was heavily dented under her feet. It had the remaining ghost of burned off paint and in places was still stained gray or brown as it must have been before the explosion that had destroyed everything.

Yang jumped out of the shallow hole and hit the dial button on her scroll. After a few rings, her teammate answered.

"Call everyone. I found it." She clicked the device closed, not bothering with the smudge of ash making the call had left on her face.

She started widening the hole as she waited for the others to get to her. Whatever it was that was telling her to search, this was definitely what she'd been meant to find.

 _C'mon, Ruby. Please be there…_ She thought desperately as she pushed herself along at the tireless pace she'd set to clear the whole of whatever she'd found. Maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to find out something about what had happened to her sister.

After countless handfuls of junk were tossed anywhere but back in the hole, the remaining half of her team arrived with team JNPR in tow. Everyone was carrying a shovel and started to dig as Blake gave Yang the extra she'd brought.

"Do you think this is it?" She asked. Yang was already digging away and didn't answer.

Blake shook her head slowly as she jumped down beside Yang and started to dig. This was the eighteenth 'discovery' they were digging up, and Blake honestly wished she knew what she could do for Yang to help her deal with her bottled up emotions. It was just a matter of time until something broke. The only question was exactly _what_ would break.

* * *

After a solid hour, the six friends had finally cleared the destroyed aircraft of enough dirt to realize how much damage it'd suffered. Both wings hadn't been so much ripped, as shredded with the internal components littering the pile that they'd shoveled up beside the main piece of hull.

The craft was also upside down, meaning they'd have to keep digging if they wanted to get to the cockpit. As it was, the evening light was already fading fast and they'd already been warned several times that they wouldn't be allowed to reenter Atlas after dark. It wouldn't be too difficult to stay here if they'd come prepared, but most of them had given up on the search for the specific needle in the needle stack Yang was obsessively searching for.

"We have to go. We'll come back tomorrow. Okay?" Jaune asked, trying to take Yang's shovel from her.

"No! We're almost done. Just a bit more." Yang kept at the hole she'd started beside where the cockpit would've been.

"Go. We'll be fine. Just let Qrow know that we're not coming back today." Blake said in apology.

"It's been a week." Pyrrha said quietly as she passed Blake. "At this point, I think it would do more harm than good for her to find them."

Blake couldn't help but agree with the logic. The dessert sun was harsh during the day, but they'd spent the past week searching the glassed area of Remnant at every waking hour.

Blake started back to shoveling the pile Yang was making so it wouldn't start falling back in the hole as the sun disappeared, leaving nothing but the stars for light as the moon was currently elsewhere in the sky.

Hours passed with little change except the size of the hole and the slowing pace at which Yang feverishly worked to dig all the way to the cockpit. Somewhere early in the morning hours as the sun started to bend it's first rays over the horizon, she climbed out of the hole, too exhausted to continue.

"I give up. Let's just go." She slowly started to cry as Blake knelt beside her, rubbing her back. The always tough blond was finally starting to accept the reality that the rest of them had resigned themselves to.

"Let me give it a turn, okay?" Blake said, bending and brushing her lips against the dirty cheek of her grieving girlfriend.

She jumped down into the hole Yang had dug, surprised at how far she'd gotten, and set to work, slowly but surely working her way around the massive damaged belly of the aircraft. She'd only worked twenty minutes when she finally found the craft drop away from her. She started digging under the craft, to hopefully find a way into the hollow husk.

Her hope was rewarded with a small access hatch not a meter in that seemed to lead to the main cockpit. For a moment, she hesitated. She wanted to tell Yang that she'd found it, but knew that there might be something on the other side that would make everything worse.

She braced herself as she forced the bent hatch inwards. Pitch black met her eyes as if there was something supernatural about the darkness. Blake pulled out her scroll and used the screen as a light to shine into the seemingly empty chamber, her faunus eyes doing the rest of the work to bring everything into sharp focus.

Almost immediately, she spotted a massive blue rock spanning from the ground to the ceiling. After a moment, she noticed that the whole container was freezing cold. _Ice…_ she realized with a stroke of shock running through her. _There's no way…_

She climbed into the small space and inspected the block of ice closer. On the side, she noticed the small etchings of Weiss's symbol, and reflecting back out of the ice was one massive shape, completely dark and blurry beneath the solid foot and a half of ice.

"Yang?" Blake yelled, still not believing what she was seeing. "Yang! Get down here!"

Blake heard the thump as Yang landed in the hole and crawled through the hatch.

She came up beside Blake, shivering slightly as she noticed the same things Blake had noticed moments ago.

Yang collapsed onto her knees, her tears returning as she cried audibly.

"This is it! We found it!" She managed to squeeze out through her sobs, wiping her hands across her face repeatedly, trying to keep her vision clear to look at the magnificent formation of ice before her.

Blake dialed the number to Yang's Uncle who picked up on the first ring.

"Yer late! Where are you?" He asked bluntly, worry evident in his voice as he shouted through the phone.

"We found them." Blake answered shortly and waited.

Moments passed and the man on the other end whispered a swear as he carefully asked the next question. "How…?"

"Ice. We won't know more until we get them out." Blake answered him with a joy she hadn't felt since before the fall of Vale. "But it's about fifteen feet underground. We'll need a lot of help."

"Not necessarily." Qrow answered tears making his voice thick. "Leave it to me!"

He hung up as Yang finally forced herself back under control. She looked at Blake in a way she hadn't since finding out about the disaster and launched herself at her partner.

"Thank you so much!" She whispered, pressing her lips to Blake's cheek. "I owe everyone so much, but you the most because you had to put up with me."

Blake moved so she caught Yang's next kiss on her lips, smiling at her teammate's surprise. "As long as you're back to normal, I'll let it slide."

Yang laughed and gave Blake one of her bone crushing hugs. "I owe you one fancy dinner, don't I?"

"I wouldn't refuse the offer." Blake answered honestly as she pulled Yang out of the hatch. "But first we have to get out of here."

At 5:25 that morning, Atlas military showed up with twenty Atlesian Knights, three excavation crews, and a battery of scientists to assess the health of the girls inside the ice.

* * *

"There have been reports of an increase in AIM supporters." The voice said from the scroll sitting on General Ironwood's desk.

"Well, what would you have _me_ do about it? There's no way to tell who's with them and who's just a civilian." He said calmly as he signed paper after paper in his inbox without looking at most of them. He'd given the job of making sure the forms were the right onces to his secretary who'd been doing a stellar job as of late in keeping literally every aspect of his work life on paper as if it was a scientific algorithm slowly mutating every cycle along with the world.

"After an event like that of Vale, I'd assume closing the borders would be a viable option." The voice suggested.

"As I've said, we rely too much on Vacuo for certain supplies. Closing borders to them would result in our trade agreement dissolving. If we close borders to Mystral, then those who want to, just need to go first to Vacuo before coming straight here." Ironwood sighed. He'd been over this opinion repeatedly for the past few days in parliament, and he was now wasting his few minutes of down time to listen to one of the politicians voice his views on the insurgent situation. "Regardless, I've voiced my opinions and the tactical value of leaving things as they are in this mornings presentation. My position will not change until the facts do. Until then, you'll have to excuse me."

He pressed the hangup button on the scroll, ignoring the politician's argument that was just starting to come out of the speakers. He leaned back in his chair and sighed as he pulled up his calendar. In exactly two days, he'd be free to go on his vacation and leave all the work to the highest ranked commander. His only hope had been to get the vote finished before he left, but as it was right now, there wouldn't be a resolution in at least a month.

* * *

"You're abroad? Since when?" Glynda Goodwitch asked in confusion.

"Since yesterday. I'll need you to keep an eye on things while I'm gone, but I daresay that you've been doing all the work from the start regardless." Ozpin answered with smile as he walked across the deserted beach.

"You're not at liberty to say exactly _where_ you are…" She assumed from his lack of information in his first statement.

"You would be correct." He answered. "Take care of yourself, Glynda. Remnant seems to be in a fragile state right now with the fall of Vale. We need to keep it whole for just a small while longer."

"I know, sir… but how exactly do we stop the inevitable?" She asked the question that had been on her mind for the countless years past.

"We don't. We can only delay it, and alter what we can so the outcome is more… favourable…" He stopped as he pondered the same question that he'd asked himself countless times before. "But even now, I cannot say for certain that my opinion of the perfect outcome will be the best for anyone. I only hope that my choices will end the war we've been fighting since the end of the Great War."

After a moment, Glynda responded. "Sometimes I wonder if you've spent so much time looking at things objectively that you've forgotten that the objects are all independent. No matter what, in the end it will be their choices that will remain. If you really are that unsure, believe me when I say that you've done better than anyone else on Remnant could have."

"Thank you Glynda." Ozpin said, touched by his friend's reassurances.

"And I was wondering if you've given any thought to my proposition from the last time we spoke in person." Glynda asked almost shyly. Ozpin stopped his walk and looked out to the sea.

"We'll see if the time is right when I get back." Ozpin responded his voice betraying his opinion on that matter too clearly.

"I see… well, I suppose that can't be helped." Glynda said sharply.

"I'm sorry. You know my reasons for keeping things this way." Ozpin sighed as he pushed his stressful thoughts down. "Until this comes to a close, I can't give my time to anything else. Especially since we are so close to finally ending this."

"You don't have to worry about me. I won't be going anywhere." Glynda responded, her voice growing soft again. "Just promise me that you'll at least inform me _before_ you go on these excursions. It can be somewhat stressful when you do not respond for hours at a time."

"As you wish." Ozpin agreed before he heard the line get cut. He placed his scroll back in his pocket and continued walking down the rocky coast his breath clouding in front of him as he slowly reanalyzed everything he knew about the whole situation sitting before him.

"If only we'd made the right choice back then…" Ozpin sighed to himself as he looked up at his destination. The cliff seemed even more foreboding than it normally was. But he'd come as close as he felt comfortable today. After all, it was going to be a long walk back to town.

* * *

 **Hello everyone! Welcome to the finale of my Bloody Snow trilogy! I've done some minor re-writes for later chapters, but overall everything was written a fair time before Season 2 entered full swing, using what was canon at the end of Season 1. Then I added to it myself.**

 **For those of you who are new to the series, I highly suggest reading Volumes 1 and 2 to clear up any confusion, which are linked on my profile and at:  
** **s/10558972/1/RWBY-Bloody-Snow-Volume-1  
** **and  
** **s/11334975/1/RWBY-Bloody-Snow-Volume-2**

 **If you're looking for something a little more fluffy, check out my most popular fic: Iridescent Ice at  
s/11040169/1/Iridescent-Ice  
or if you're more into "a little dark but not terribly so", Because Why Not? will be getting more updates very very soon at  
** **s/11352417/1/Because-Why-Not**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, drop me a message to tell me what you loved (or hated).** **Updates will happen at least weekly, but if I'm not too busy, more often. So follow to get the updates as soon as they go live!**

 **A big thanks to LovelyLittleRose - my artist who's worked on more than a few commissions for me, including this cover and the cover of Bloody Snow Volume 1.**

 **And finally, I thank the late Monty Oum for creating this beautiful world, and admit that I regretfully do not own RWBY, RoosterTeeth, or any other trademarks or copyrights associated with this show (insert legal mumbo jumbo here).**

 **Once again, Welcome, and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of RWBY: Bloody Snow: Volume 3!**


	2. White Rose Down: Chapter 2

"We still need you." The speaker crackled with bad reception.

"Well, what if I don't want to have anything to do with you? The way I see it, you need me _way_ more than I need you." Roman spoke agitatedly as he walked down the street, glancing back and forth for any cops that might recognize him.

"That doesn't change anything."

"No, it gives you your answer." He snapped, ready to end the call.

"The tournament starts in one week. Make sure everyone enters."

"Will do, your highness!" He exclaimed sarcastically. He turned a corner into a darker alley and stopped to finish the call that would definitely drop if he continued further between the old abandoned buildings.

There was some interruption on the other end as he waited for his employer to let him go. After a solid minute, he shrugged and hung up. If they needed to say anything, they'd missed their chance.

"Sounds like you've got an important job." A voice behind him made him turn.

"You again?" Roman asked in astonishment to finding the bearded man who'd spoken to him in the bar leaning against the wall in a shadow and smoking a cigarette. "Are you following me?"

"Yes." He answered calmly as he approached. He was easily a head taller than Roman and looked like he'd been working out most of his life. There was also a grim look in his eyes that spoke of a terrible ordeal in his life that was not yet at it's close. "I've come to ask if you've picked a side yet."

"Depends on what you're talking about and who wants to know?" Roman asked as he lit his cigar, resigning himself to the fact that this man was more than a match for him.

"Summer." The man answered simply.

Roman froze. He never thought anyone had tied him to that whole fiasco years ago, and he knew well enough that whoever would be bringing up the incident to him was very dangerous.

"Sorry, I don't any Summer's." Roman answered calmly as he turned. "As you said, I've got an important job to do."

"How easily you forget." The bearded man sighed to his back. "It won't end so well this time. You know that."

Roman stopped, his hand on the door to one of the buildings. He waited to hear the last of what the man said before leaving.

"Just make sure you do the job right. One of them knows their way around the system." The bearded man dropped his smoke, stepping on it as he walked out of the alley.

Roman stood there with his hand on the door, a feeling of deja vu washing over him as he asked himself the same question he had the previous time. _Who was that?_

* * *

"Are they…?" Yang asked, sitting in the chair outside the tent that had been erected around the excavation site. Several lab technicians passed, ignoring her questions as they went to report to the Warrant Officer's tent.

"I don't see much use in them making this big a deal about everything if they weren't." Blake answered, her hand curling Yang's hair around her fingers as she read a book on semblances that she had bought Weiss, but hadn't read before they were forced to leave Beacon.

"Well I'm her sister! The least they can do is tell me something other than 'we're working on it'!" Yang complained, but remained seated as Blake flipped her hair out of her fingers to start tangling it in again.

"Just be patient. It's been a week since the Event and everyone else at their camp was vaporized. It's a miracle we even found any part of them." Blake answered, turning a page. She was engrossed in the current chapter about the omega state of semblance and hadn't realized how harsh her words had been.

"That's not what you think." Yang replied, her voice low and threatening.

Blake looked up from her book to see the eyes of her friend on the verge of changing from purple to red. Yang looked like she'd been slapped and Blake finally realized what she'd said.

"No… it's not. I'm sorry." She apologized, dropping her hand out of Yang's hair and closing her book. She decided to leave the reading until the conversation was done and she was safe from saying something stupid and cruel without thinking.

"Hey! What's going on?" Yang yelled at another clump of scientists in biohazard suits walking past them into the tent. They ignored her like they usually did, and Yang jumped up in frustration. "Tell me what's happening to my sister!"

The flap closed behind the group and no answer was given. Blake put the book away and got up. She looked back at where the security guard stood facing away as he talked to one of the scientists.

"Follow me." Blake whispered, taking Yang's hand and pulling her around the side of the tent.

"Where are we going?" Yang asked, confused as Blake stopped directly in the middle of the tent.

"Well, they have their flap that they told us we're not allowed to go through." Blake unsheathed her weapon, slashing the canvas in front of her quickly before replacing the blade at her back. "And now I've made our own personal entrance."

"But…" Yang tried to find a valid argument against Blake's suggestion, but there was none. They weren't technically breaking any rules that she'd been informed of even if it was toeing the line, and her baby sister was on the other side of the canvas. She nodded her assent to Blake who pulled up the newly cut canvas to see if anyone would see them.

"Ruby awaits." Blake announced, slipping into the tent.

Yang followed, and was amazed at the massive set of stairs that led down to the side of the completely excavated plane that they'd last visited through a hand dug hole.

Handfuls of scientists looked around at the movement at the top of the stairs and several started punching buttons on the helmets.

Blake calmly led Yang down the stairs, waving with a smile to the scientists as she entered the plane. Inside, there were several bins all filled with broken and useless mining tools from drills to pickaxes to hammers and even a saw with a diamond encrusted blade with no teeth. Several more bins held new versions of the broken tools.

"Hey! Get out of there!" A voice behind them yelled.

Blake turned to see the security guard that had been talking to the scientist.

"We're visiting our team. You can't stop us." She asserted as Yang, now so close to where she'd wanted to go, had a change of heart. It scared her what she might find out.

"It's okay. Let's just go." She said, tugging on the back of Blake's shirt slightly.

"No. I'm finding out why nobody will tell us what's happening. I'd rather know than be left to wonder." Blake stubbornly walked farther into the cut open body of the plane to find scientists looking at a white board with an image of an atom on it.

They hadn't noticed Blake and continued their conversation as Yang slowly poked her head around the corner.

"Well how do you suppose we split it then?" One of the scientists was asking.

"Like I said, the only thing with a chance is the electron splitter, but that would likely rip the subjects apart in the process." An older sounding scientist said. "Semblance is a tricky thing. It only responds to certain criteria of stimulation."

"And how do we know this _is_ semblance? It could just be dust." A third younger sounding girl offered.

"Dust would've worn off by now. If you'd been paying attention to my lecture, you would've known that." The old scientist reprimanded, holding the bridge of his nose in thought. "What about their partners?"

"The two supposedly in there are partners." The girl responded. "It was all over the tabloids a few months back."

"Romantic partners then?" The man asked.

"That's what I mean, they were both." The girl responded. "The best we can maybe track down is their team since Beacon had a two pairing structure."

"Until then, there's nothing we can do." The older man sighed and turned just as the security guard came rushing around the corner, tripping over Yang's outstretched leg.

"It's your lucky day." Blake announced coming out from her hiding place in the shadows of a cut up bulk head. "I'm their teammate. And my partner's sister is one of your 'subjects'."

The man spun and looked at her carefully. The security guard was getting his footing and came running at Blake.

Blake spun, grabbing her weapon and using it to hit the guard hard in the head. He fell unconscious at her feet as she replaced the weapon at her back.

"And we're not leaving, until we get answers." She said as she motioned for Yang to join her.

* * *

"That isn't much." Blake scolded the scientists as Yang stood at the back of the room, content to just listen.

"And I suppose you have better ideas?" The younger man asked, doubt heavy in his voice.

"What… never heard of a smart kitty before?" Blake asked, mentally high fiving herself for using a pun that Yang hadn't yet.

"Well… um…" He fumbled, not knowing how to answer a racist comment when it was made by the subject of the racism.

"I've been reading about semblance. All you need is a strong enough counteragent." Blake said simply.

"But we can't just make one, there is a dust shortage in the north, and that's where the main supply of fire attributed dust is mined." The elder scientist said.

"You don't need dust. You've got her." Blake pointed her thumb over at Yang who perked up at being addressed.

"I'm afraid you've lost us." The girl stated calmly. She shuffled her notes she was holding into a neater pile, not even bothering to check the calculations they'd been working on.

"Yang, use your semblance." Blake said as she got up and motioned for Yang to move to open space.

Yang just gave Blake a critical look as they switched places. Yang concentrated until she felt her familiar power flow through her, but it wasn't enough to actually do anything.

"She'll need a lot more than that." The old scientist said dismissively and somewhat disappointedly.

"I guess that's that then." Blake said, not moving from her place watching Yang. "I guess you'll have to use that thing you were talking about earlier."

"The electron splitter?" The young scientist offered helpfully as he helped clean notes into propper stacks while the older scientist started new calculations.

"What was the chance we'd get the bodies out in one piece?" Blake asked, knowing she'd be pushing her luck with Yang but knowing that is exactly what she needed to do.

"About four percent." He answered. Yang's hair took on the shimmering look it normally did just before she reached her explosion point.

"And the chance we'd get them out alive?" Blake prompted, knowing it had to be extremely low.

"One in a hundred quadrillion." The scientist answered. Yang let out an animalistic yell of rage as her aura exploded out over the whole room. All three scientists were knocked to the floor and the knocked out guard rolled over with the force of the shock wave of burning air.

"You've got your fire." Blake announced to the room as she watched Yang's terrific beauty ripple the air around her as her hair shifted as if it was alive, shifting color from the typical yellow to darker shades that were almost orange as if it was imitating fire. Her skin was still its normal pale hue but even at the edge of the room, Blake could feel the intense heat radiating off the girl as her dark red eyes looked around the room, settling on the massive ice crystal. Blake was barely able to see the steam of tears evaporating from her eyes at the hurt she'd purposely provided. She didn't feel good about that.

"I know what to do." Yang told Blake as she started walking to the chunk of ice.

"Wait! I want to get readings off this!" The old scientist shouted as he stumbled to his feet.

"Then get them. I'm getting Ruby out." Yang said, not slowing as the scientist fumbled with an array of instruments.

Yang took one look at the ice and sent her fist flying straight at the middle. A horrible crack rang through the room as her aura dissipated after sending her arm six inches inside the crust of ice. At first nothing happened, Yang kept her fist pressed into the hole, breathing heavily at the intense use of her aura. Slowly, small hairline fractures worked their way through the crystal, radiating out from the indentation until the entire block had turned white with the billions of cracks.

Yang pulled out her fist and the crystallized water fell in a crash as two unconscious figures with arms wrapped around each other fell to the ground. Both were freezing but also breathing. Yang crouched to check the pulses of her teammates as Blake quickly checked her scroll. Yang, Ruby, and Weiss all had depleted aura's and the latter two had hypothermia warnings on their readouts, but were definitely alive.

"You did it." Blake breathed in amazement. "I honestly can't believe that worked."

"Well, I did break my hand and use all of my aura." Yang commented, holding up the malformed hand that was slowly growing purple before her eyes.

"I got them!" The scientist exclaimed as the three others in the room started taking notes from the device. No attention was paid to their subjects as they exclaimed over the rare data.

"I've got Weiss." Blake told Yang as she helped her pick Ruby up. "Let's get them out of here."

The walk out of the tent was interesting to say the least, scientists staring in awe as they carried two people they'd never seen before out of the hole where not one of their teams had made any progress. Blake led the way to the Warrant Officer's tent. She walked through the open flap and up to the one person with a quick way back to Atlas.

"We need to get to a hospital. Yesterday." Blake said shortly, interrupting his conversation with the scientists.

"I'm busy. Whatever…" He trailed off as he looked over his shoulder to find two unconscious people he hadn't seen before. "Who are they?"

"We gave you a chance to get them out yourselves." Yang said, still angry with the scientist's willingness to risk her team's lives. "You took too long, so we solved the problem for you."

The scientists exchanged uneasy glances as they backed out of the conversation.

"No need to thank us! It's what we do!" Yang called after them as they exited the tent.

"Well, lets go then." The Warrant Officer sighed, picking up his cap and leading the way out the back flap that was closer to his aircraft.

* * *

"They're in the ICU. We'll let you know as soon as we get any new information." The nurse at the administration desk informed the teammates as the chaos of their arrival calmed down and everyone slowly returned to their jobs. "We have your information, so we'll send information straight to your scrolls."

"Thanks." Blake said with a nod, taking the hint that they weren't needed any longer. Yang seemed torn between staying to keep an eye on their teammates and following Blake out. "Come on. Lets get a drink."

"Okay." Yang nodded, following her partner to the doors. "God knows I need one."

They walked in silence down the street to the bar that was conveniently named The Sorrowful Surgeon. Both were distracted in their own thoughts as they sat at a table and ordered drinks from a passing waitress. It was only once their drinks had arrived that the two came back to reality.

"So I forgot, how's your hand?" Blake asked before taking a mouthful of the strong drink that burned her throat pleasantly as it made its way down.

"Fine. Aura fixed it around the middle of the flight." Yang stated, flexing her hand open and closed to elaborate. Silence fell again as they continued to drink.

After they'd both ordered and finished the second round, their scrolls beeped bringing them out of their thoughts.

"The good news is they're perfectly fine." Blake stated optimistically for Yang's benefit.

"Yeah, the bad news is they're still comatose and the doctors don't know why." Yang replied, waving for the waitress with two fingers in the air.

"They'll figure it out. They're still running tests." Blake said as she dropped her scroll on the table. After a few more minutes of silence, Blake started giggling uncontrollably as the waitress dropped two fresh drinks on the table as she walked by to another group that had just come in.

"What's so funny?" Yang asked with a smile. She loved the few times Blake laughed, but was a little confused considering the not-so-funny atmosphere.

After gasping to catch her breath as the giggles subsided somewhat, Blake looked at Yang, tearing yellow eyes meeting confused purple. "Everything…. Us… the bar… probably the beer too."

A new round of giggles claimed her as she clutched at her chest. Yang couldn't help but join in with her partner's giggles and they soon found themselves gasping and clutching their chests as they wheezed in precious little air past their continuous giggles.

Eventually they stopped and gulped down the drinks they'd left untouched. The waitress dropped two more on the table without them even ordering and they each drank half of the new glass before stopping to look at each other.

"You know…" Yang started, her voice wavering slightly as she leaned over the table, her breasts pressing against the old wood as she stared at Blake with a conspiratorial look in her eye. "This is the first time we've had time to relax since we first got to Atlas."

Blake nodded, the purple eyes of her partner ever so enticing in the horrible lighting of the pub. Blake knew she'd passed her tolerance level for alcohol at the second drink, but even in her inebriated state she was able to use her semblance so her clone disappeared from her side of the table just after she started pushing Yang farther into the booth.

Blake wrapped her arms around the blond girl as she sat down on the hard plastic bench and rammed her lips onto Yang's. Yang quickly reciprocated Blake's kiss until she felt Blake's hands start to wander where they shouldn't in public.

"Blake!" Yang almost shouted as she pushed Blake back. Blake, true to her feline counterpart, dug her fingers into Yang's jacket and refused to let go even as Yang kept her a few inches away so she could evaluate her teammate.

Blake's eyes were slightly unfocused as she tried to pull Yang into another kiss and fumbled with the hem of her jacket. Yang tried and failed to suppress a laugh that soon escaped as she forced Blake's arms to her sides and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"You're drunk." Yang stated. Blake seemed to think for a moment and nodded with a smile, still pulling at the back of Yang's jacket. "Scratch that. Very drunk."

Blake saw an opening and launched her head through Yang'd defenses and started suckling the only sensitive spot Yang had on her neck.

"Oh!" Yang gasped, losing her composition for a moment as a rush of heat raced through her veins. She didn't even notice Blake had found the buttons on the front of her jacket and started to undo them.

"Mmmh…" Blake moaned as she bit down gently, drawing a gasp out of Yang who suddenly realized their location.

"Check please!" Yang yelled at the waitress across the room as she held Blake off her long enough to do up the undone buttons and pull out her wallet. The waitress was taking her time in bringing the check so Yang dropped some lien on the table and pushed Blake up.

"Where are we going?" Blake asked curiously as she glued herself to Yang's side while they walked out the door.

"Somewhere without people." Yang said, noticing an old hotel conveniently across the street from the bar. It didn't look too expensive or rundown, so she pulled Blake across the street with her.

"Okay." Blake said as she twirled her fingers into Yang's hair. Yang mumbled something, but Blake wasn't paying attention anymore. All she wanted was to keep Yang in her arms.


	3. White Rose Down: Chapter 3

**A/N: Missed last week, sorry! Here's 2 chapters to make up for it!**

* * *

"Did you hear about the exhibition?" Jaune asked darkly as he walked down the street to work with Pyrrha.

"Yeah, everyone has. Why?" Pyrrha asked as they walked past a group of students headed in the opposite direction.

"I noticed something… off about it, so I took a look." Jaune replied. "It seems the participants are all criminals."

"Why would criminals be signed up in a tournament?" Pyrrha asked, wondering if Jaune found anything out.

"That's what I want you to find out. It's not online, or in Ironwood's system but I'll bet that it was his office that set it up." Jaune said. "It's either that or Atlas' board of directors has a role."

"I'll keep my ears open." Pyrrha nodded as they walked into the building where Pyrrha would be attending yet another presentation by the General.

"Well, I'll see you after work." Jaune said leaning closer to Pyrrha who turned and met his lips with her own.

"Come on guys." Ren called from across the hall as he approached. "I told you about doing that away from eagle eyes in two C, didn't I?"

"Right. The HR nun." Jaune laughed waving at a bespectacled old lady who ducked back below her divider having been caught. "And I've already locked her out of the incident reports, so unless she files it by hand, we're fine."

Pyrrha laughed at Ren's skeptical look. "Relax, he knows what he's doing."

"Except that she's been here since before everything went digital." Ren said. "She knows how to do everything offline."

"It's fine. As long as we don't push her buttons too much." Pyrrha dismissed as she gave Jaune one last peck and walked away with Ren.

Jaune watched them walk into the break room to get prepared for the day as the news from the previous night came back to his mind. He turned and walked out of the building when he noticed eagle eyes watching him again. He decided to visit the hospital and see how team RWBY was doing.

He was officially supposed to be working, but his automated program was alright by itself for a few hours at a time without need for him. He'd already watched all the TV he could stomach and still had time to spare after his training that he'd continued from where he'd left off with Pyrrha. The least he could do is find out how the others were doing, though it didn't sound good the previous night.

He entered the hospital and asked for the location of his friends. The nurse directed him to another information kiosk on the next floor. Over the next hour he found himself walking back and forth from kiosk to kiosk because nobody seemed to have any information about where Ruby or Weiss were.

"I'm sorry, my system is telling me to send you to G level to kiosk 4 in the ICU." The most recent nurse stated calmly as she went about her work, moving papers into several stacks as she sorted through them.

"I've already been there six kiosks ago!" Jaune groaned deflatedly. "Please don't send me on another lap, because I'll just show up here again in ten minutes."

"Sorry, sir. G level, kiosk 4… hold on…" The nurse looked at her screen with a confused expression on her face. Slowly she reached out and picked up a phone. "Security to H-2-2! We have a breach!"

She quickly typed something on her keyboard and massive metal doors slid down from the ceiling, blocking the hall to the ward. Slowly the metal started to grow white as a thin layer of ice formed on the thick door. It was sort of like watching a freezer gain frost in time-lapse as the edges of the door grew white and started growing bumpy formations of ice. After several seconds, the growth stopped and the frost remained, slowly smoking as it came into contact with the warm air of the hall.

"What the heck is that?" Jaune asked, hoping it wasn't what he had a feeling it was.

"Nothing. Just a malfunctioning piece of equipment. We're waiting for the technicians to come take a look." The nurse said calmly.

Jaune highly doubted something like that could've been a result from a malfunction, but shook off the nagging suspicion that something was up. He turned back to the elevator to see several guards with large guns walking by followed closely by two people he knew.

"Yang! Blake!" He waved, getting their attention as they stopped for him to catch up. "Where are you going?"

"To see my sister." Yang said, confused as to why she would be there otherwise. "She's apparently done with the scans the doctors wanted."

"Well, I thought I'd stop by and visit but the information booths are useless." Jaune complained. "I've already been here over an hour and I still haven't found them!"

"Weird." Blake commented, sipping what looked like a cup of tea in her hands.

"Well, they're down there." Yang pointed to the men who were trying to de-ice the door.

The group watched for several minutes as the men worked. Finally, the large blast door slowly started to slide open as the sound of cracking ice echoed on the other side.

"Looks like the princess is at it again." Yang commented, walking forward through the newly raised door.

The men who'd opened it tried to stop her, but instead followed as Yang ignored them and kept walking into the corridor that looked as if everything inside it had been turned to ice.

Blake and Jaune followed cautiously, their hands going to their weapons. In Jaune's case, it was a small switchblade that he'd started carrying around instead of the large sword and shield.

At the very end of the hall, one door remained frozen open. Yang walked inside to find Weiss and Ruby on two beds that appeared to have been pushed together along with a team of four doctors who appeared to have been frozen in the same crystal-like pieces as Weiss and Ruby had been when Blake had found them.

One of the guards waved his fingers and the others drew their rifles as they surrounded the bed. Yang flared her aura in warning, melting the spots of ice where she was standing and looked back at the guard.

"You will call them off and leave." Yang left no room for argument in her command, but the guard shrugged.

"I have my orders. Step aside or I have the right to detain you indefinitely until I see fit." He stated. Yang didn't move a muscle. The guard grew impatient and tried to push Yang out of the way of the bed and was met with an elbow in the gut. It might've knocked the wind out of him if he wasn't wearing full body armour. "I said, MOVE!"

The guard punched Yang in the head, sending her into one of the frozen doctors who fell to the ground, instantly melted out of his frozen state by Yang's flaring aura.

The other two guards were moving around the remaining doctors while Blake and Jaune followed closely behind to impair whatever ill intentions they may have been ordered to perform.

Yang launched herself at the guard who back-stepped and punched again, this time his gauntlet caught on Yang's unbrushed hair, ripping a short strand from her scalp. Yang yelped as she spun to a stop once again in between the guard and her sister.

"Do you know what happens when you fuck with the hair?" Yang asked in a whisper. Blake and Jaune both flinched as they realized what was about to happen. They honestly felt sorry for the man with the yellow strand hanging from his glove. Both of them backed up to the wall, making the guards they had been shadowing pay attention to what was happening with their leader.

Yang's eyes were glowing red with the massive amount of her aura that was building like a perpetual energy machine as the seconds slowly ticked by. The guard ignored any danger signs that were evident an aimed a third punch at Yang.

This time, Yang caught his fist in her hand and let out a manic laugh as her own fist landed on his rifle, shattering it into two. Yang pulled her fist back once more, her bracelet transforming as she did so into her deadly gauntlet.

"This will feel good." Yang stated as she let loose a yell. Her aura focused on her fist as she set the guard's outfit on fire and sent him through the two walls and window that was in the room across from the one they were in. The flare of her aura melted the rest of the room, the doctors slowly groaning as they tried to get their bearings after being frozen solid for several minutes. "How 'bout you, huh?"

The remaining two guards took one good look at the row of holes in the wall before dropping their rifles and holding their hands up to surrender as they left the room. Jaune and Blake started to help the doctors into the few chairs in the room as they recovered. Yang smiled as her aura dissipated into the now comfortably warm air as she looked back to see Ruby's eyes flicker open.

Cracked monitors on the wall flickered and beeped frantically in shrill tones as Ruby started to hyperventilate. The first doctor Yang had unintentionally unfrozen rushed over and started feeling Ruby's wrist for a pulse before turning to the damaged instrument and pounding it on the side making the screen flicker solid.

The device was a heart monitor that had nothing but a thick green line slowly scrolling across it. The doctor turned to Yang who was closest and started giving orders.

"I need the third box from that cart." He told Yang as he pointed while circling the beds to slam his hand on the other monitor that was hooked up to Weiss.

Yang quickly grabbed the box that was much heavier than she thought it would be and carried it over to the doctor as he found Weiss's monitor appearing identical to Ruby's.

He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the crate, trusting Yang to hold it as he pulled out two needles and a glass bottle that he uncorked and filled the needles with. He quickly flipped the first one, sending a small squirt of the liquid out before jabbing it into Weiss's chest and injecting the serum into her heart. He pulled out the needle and tossed it toward the sink as he pushed Yang out of the way as he circled back to Ruby. He repeated the process and then waited, watching as the thick solid lines on the monitors slowly stretched out until the devices stopped whining and started beeping slower and slower. After a minute or so, the monitors were beeping so slow that they only let out a beep every ten or so seconds.

"Is that normal?" Blake asked as the doctor watched his watch carefully.

"I'd say it's optimal." He responded with a sigh. He turned to look at his colleagues and Yang noticed the massive age difference. "Alright, on your feet!"

A collective groan echoed around the room as he pointed at the door. The doctors left except for the older one giving the orders.

"You're a teacher?" Blake asked wondering what a class was doing with her teammates.

"In a manner…" the doctor said as he gestured for the three to take seats. "Those were nurses that just started their residency last week. Anyways, I've given these two a sedative since they seemed to be in a panic attack when they woke up. Right now I can't be sure they were actually conscious and not just suffering a seizure, but I can say that it is a promising development since last night."

"English please." Jaune mumbled, not really understanding most of what the doctor said. Yang nodded in agreement to Jaune's statement, and Blake sighed as she leaned back into the chair.

"Basically, I gave them a shot to put them to sleep, and it's about a seventy-five percent chance they've woken from their comas." He summarized. He pulled out his scroll that was still frozen solid and sighed. "You'll have to excuse me while I get a replacement."

He left the room as Yang jumped back up and walked over to Ruby. She gently rubbed the hair out of the younger girl's face as she slept, the slow but now steady beeping of the heart monitors in sync as the two girls slept, their hands seeming to be reaching for each other yet remaining on their own beds.

"So that was a bit weird, right?" Jaune asked as he walked up to Weiss's side.

"Definitely. Who were those guys anyway?" Blake asked. "The hospital security wear blue and there's generally no body armour."

"I think I might be able to find out." Jaune said after a moment of thought. "The guy I was following before Yang… well, before Yang, had an acronym on his shirt under the armour. AIM."

"AIM. That sounds familiar." Blake said as she tried to remember the days before she became a student at beacon. There had been literally billions of rumors circling and she'd had to sort through them to help her find her ticket for admission. One of those had something to do with it, but she couldn't exactly remember. She noticed both her friends watching her and she shook her head. "No use. I heard a rumor a long time ago, but I can't remember it."

"That's fine. We'll just have Blondy over here look it up." Yang joked with a nod to Jaune.

"Hey! You're blond too!" Jaune argued, slightly offended by the age old stereotype.

"Yeah, but I wear it sexy!" Yang said, striking a pose. Blake dropped her face into her hand and sighed.

"You two can have fun." She groaned as she got up. "I'm leaving."

"Come on, you're no fun." Yang whined as she started to follow Blake out of the room and down the slowly melting corridor.

Jaune followed them to the main doors where he checked the time.

"I should probably show up at work sometime today, so I'll say bye here." He said with a wave. "I'll let you know if I find anything, kay?"

"Sure." Blake agreed. "That'll be bothering me now until I remember."

"Well, see ya!" Yang said and dragged Blake away in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?" Blake asked with a sigh. She remembered that they only had a few hours until her first shift after her week off. "And weren't you supposed to be redeployed today?"

"Meh, I got a new job." Yang answered shortly as she continued to drag Blake along. "And where we're going is a surprise!"

"Please tell me it's not another bar you found down some back alley." Blake said, her tone indicating how little hope she had that she wasn't being dragged to a bar. Her hangover that morning had been one of the worst experiences she'd had in months.

"Well, I won't rule it out, but it's definitely not the first stop." Yang affirmed with a nod and a smile.

Blake followed Yang down the street wondering where she was being taken, and hoping beyond hope that it was somewhere she actually might like for once.

* * *

Nora jogged down the street, looking back over her shoulder as she turned corners at random. She was fairly certain that someone was following her. Even though she wasn't doing anything wrong, it was that feeling in the back of her head that warned her of coming danger if she let it continue.

Turning another corner, she found herself facing the Atlas Military Academy. The prestigious array of buildings stood far taller than any others in the vicinity and were guarded much more tightly. It didn't mean it was more difficult to get in, it just meant it would be easier to lose whoever was following her.

She sped past the guard kiosk, where three guards jumped away from their game of cards and gave chase. Technically, since she wasn't a student, she wasn't supposed to be on campus, but it didn't matter. Turning a few more random corners found her on the way to another exit. She sped out, the feeling of being followed still burning in her mind even though she'd lost the guards several turns ago.

She ran full tilt down the street hoping Jaune would be at home. There'd been some weird stuff going on, and she had a feeling he'd want to know about it.

She turned the corner to the street Jaune's apartment building was on when she sensed someone directly behind her. She spun around just as whoever it was smashed something into her head, making her vision explode in stars as she landed on the ground.

Before she could regain her senses, her wrists and legs were bound and a gag had been put into her mouth before a sack cut off all light.

She tried to scream but couldn't make a sound due to the tight cloth blocking her mouth. She tried to snap the ropes around her arms and almost succeeded as they started to groan with the stress on the braided cords. Out of nowhere she felt her head explode in pain as whoever had captured her hit her again.

"Don't struggle." A deep female voice ordered menacingly. "I have no problems with breaking your skull open."

Nora stopped her struggles to a short laugh from her captor. After a minute or so, Nora felt something nudge against her arm. Some mumbled voices were speaking as whoever it was ripped the sack off her head.

She opened her eyes to find herself staring at twenty or so guys with their guns all pointed at her. She struggled and sat up, looking around at an abandoned briefcase that sat beside her.

"Nora Valkyrie! You are under arrest for attempting to commit an act of terrorism!" One of the men yelled as another approached with a pair of reinforced metal cuffs.

"Great…" Nora groaned as she let herself fall back to the hard ground. "Just great."


	4. Dead Man's Alley: Chapter 4

**A/N: Warning, lemon this chapter.**

* * *

"And you know your part?" Roman asked the man standing before him. He wasn't even talking to the people he was hiring. He was talking to a handler for the sake of _anonymity_.

"They know what to do. It's your job to make sure they end up matched up against your targets. They'll knock off whoever you have them face off against." The man said slowly as if it took a while for his brain to send the words along to his mouth.

"They better, otherwise I'll be pointing my unhappy employer in your direction." Roman threated as he downed his drink and walked away. "And you don't want to deal with my employer on a good day. Trust me."

He walked out onto the icy street and started the long walk back to his hideout. It wasn't exactly colder than normal, but a shiver ran down his spine as he realized someone was watching him out of the shadows in an alley across the street.

He watched the shadow in his peripherals to see the large bearded man walk out of them and in the opposite direction, whistling a slight tune in the silent winter air.

 _What is with this guy?_ He wondered as the man stepped into a coffee shop a few spaces down from the bar he'd just come out of.

The rest of the walk back to the warehouse was uneventful. He sat down at his computer and noticed that a CD had been placed inside the drive. He opened it up to find two text files. One was a long list of names and the other had instructions.

"Well looky here…" Roman mumbled to himself as he read through the instructions and the names. "We've got Little Red, her team, and their friends. Looks like this tournament might be fun to watch after all…"

* * *

Blake was surprised by the massive display Yang had stopped her in front of. It was the front window of the largest book store she'd ever seen. And she'd never even heard of the place before.

"Where would you even go to find out about this place?" Blake asked quietly, in shock from the existence of the warehouse that was fairly well hidden in the middle of the factory district.

"Apparently they only let you in if you're rich." Yang stated also impressed by the size of the place.

"Then why did you bring me here?" Blake asked, mentally calculating that she was more than a couple digits off from being considered rich.

"For today, call me Weiss." Yang smiled as she walked to the door and knocked.

Blake remained silent as the door opened to a man in a nice black suit. Even though he was inside, he was wearing a pair of shades that made him look like a hit-man.

"ID." He prompted calmly, his facial muscles locked in a passive look that was neither a frown nor a smile.

Yang handed him a small card and he nodded before moving aside and handing back the ID.

Blake followed Yang into the place to find shelves that stretched far into the distance lined with every book imaginable. There was only one other person in the whole place sitting beside a lock-box reading a magazine. He didn't even look up as the two girls walked past him, picking a row at random to start looking at.

"What's up?" Yang asked quietly as they walked down the unending isle. "You're really quiet right now."

"First off, the whole place is quiet." Blake whispered, not wanting to ruin the atmosphere. "Secondly, I'm torn about whether I should hit you or kiss you."

"Well, I did just bring you to the best book store you've ever been to in your life." Yang said with a smile.

"And to get entrance, you took advantage of our teammate who just came out of a coma." Blake stated with a sigh.

"Come on. You know Weiss isn't one to go to a book store. Besides, it's not like we're using her money to buy any of the books you want." Yang said while tracing her finger down Blake's shoulder.

Blake pulled a book at random off the shelf and showed the price tag on the back to Yang. As with most stores that only let in those with resources, the books were overpriced to an extreme Blake had yet to see with her own eyes.

"Oh… I guess that explains the 'no poor people' rule." Yang stated, her brow furrowing as she thought. "Just pick out your favourite thing and I'll get it for you."

"I have money too." Blake stated, realizing that her savings wouldn't last longer than two minutes in this place.

"I want to get you something because I sort of wasted your whole week off." Yang said regretfully. "I made you cancel your plans to help me look for Ruby. I owe you that much."

"If you're sure." Blake conceded. This was obviously one of the many things that Yang would not budge on. Blake continued to walk, now holding Yang's hand as a reassurance that everything was fine between them as she looked over the titles of the books.

There were so many and they hadn't even made it to the half way mark in the first isle they'd walked down. There was only three of every book imaginable. They seemed to be in the science fiction adventure isle as the titles frequently contained the words 'Quantum', 'Space' and 'Frontier'.

"I didn't even know that there could be so many books I've never seen before." Blake said quietly as she found yet another shelf of books that she'd never seen or heard of before just that moment.

"Take a look at a few. Maybe you'll find something you want." Yang said, her voice doing a good job of hiding the fact that she was bored out of her mind.

Blake took a few down and read their descriptions. Most of them were based on typical dystopian templates while others read more like memoirs or romance novels. None of it really caught Blake's attention, so she picked up the pace, Yang following eagerly to the end of the isle where the massive steel wall rose to the ceiling sporting a massive emblem of a book.

"Which way?" Blake asked, looking both ways down the end of the isle wondering which direction had her type of books.

"Hmm…" Yang thought, theatrically tapping her chin. "My literature senses are tingling in that direction." Yang pointed over her shoulder as she walked backwards in front of Blake.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked, realizing Yang was acting more odd than was usual.

"You'll see." Yang smiled, spinning on her heel and walking quickly away leaving Blake to follow. She ducked down an isle not far from where Blake was, so she didn't rush, allowing herself to look into each isle to find out what other types of books lay undiscovered in the deepest part of the store.

She eventually came to the isle Yang had gone down to find her jump and start slowly running her hand across titles as if she was actually determining if they warranted being taken off the shelf for a closer inspection.

"Again, what are you doing?" Blake asked, approaching Yang who froze in apparent shock before ripping a book off the shelf and flipping through it as if she could read several pages in a second.

Blake came up beside Yang just as she stopped at a page about two thirds of the way through the book. Yang seemed to be reading it and she smiled at Blake who was growing curious as to why her girlfriend was acting so strange.

"Read it." Yang said in answer to Blake's unspoken question, turning the book around and tapping on a paragraph.

Blake took the book and started reading. At first nothing seemed to make sense as things often don't when you jump in part way through. Then certain words jumped out as she read making her skin heat up slightly as she realized just what she was reading.

"You like?" Yang whispered into Blake's ear as she slowly let out her breath, warming the faunus girl's neck as she wrapped her arms around her stomach.

"W… when did you get there?" Blake whispered with a quick glance around at the surrounding shelves that housed no life except that which was concealed within the dusty old tomes.

Yang ignored the question and whispered again, so very close that Blake was afraid of someone seeing them and misunderstanding. "Maybe you should just keep reading."

Blake looked back down at the book laying open in her hands and started from the beginning of the paragraph Yang had pointed out.

 _My amazing girlfriend handed me a book off the shelf, telling me to read some random part in the middle. As I was figuring out what I was reading, she slipped behind me, unseen until she startled me with her whispered words._

" _Like it?"_

 _I looked back down at the page, ignoring how frustrating it was to have her breasts pressed against my back as her strong arms captured me to keep me facing away. Maybe the most irritating thing about the whole situation was how turned on I was getting from her warm breath against my neck._

Blake gasped as she realized what was happening. Yang was acting out a scene from the book at the same time she was reading it. It wasn't that she hadn't thought about something akin to the moment in one of her many fantasies, but it was still surprising to think Yang had gone through the work of setting this one moment up. The blond hated planning and this definitely fell into the 'planning required' category.

She was about to turn to the next page when she stopped herself. _Why am I reading the book? If my guess is right, I can live it._ She shook her head firmly and closed the book while taking a deep breath. She placed it back in the empty spot on the shelf knowing what might happen next.

"I'm not really a fan of public exhibition." Blake said while mentally kicking herself.

"Didn't seem to matter last night." Yang breathed, her voice less than a whisper as the sound floated by Blake's ear.

"I'm really against having people watch." Blake said again, her voice wavering as she fought herself and the heat now radiating through her veins thanks to Yang.

"I guess we'll just have to be quiet so the only other people here don't realize what's happening." Yang said this time giving Blake's ear a quick lick that drew a short purr out of her throat.

"What about cameras?" Blake asked, thinking that a place like this would have to have a security system of some type.

"Nothing." Yang breathed. "Want to open the book again? I bet you're wondering what happens next…"

Blake felt herself tremble slightly at Yang's remark and nodded, then she shook her head. "Why don't you tell me the story instead?"

"My pleasure." Yang breathed before she started peppering Blake's neck with kisses, each one burning like a small sun as Blake fought to keep a moan quiet just to have a short purr escape instead.

The kisses felt so calming that Blake soon found herself leaning back against Yang, trying to get closer. Exactly when Yang's hands had shifted their position she wasn't sure as one cupped her breast while the other had slipped inside her shirt to press warmly against her stomach.

Yang seemed content to continue doing nothing but kiss and nibble at Blake's neck and after several minutes, or maybe hours Blake grew impatient. She turned her body as far as she could and caught Yang's lips on her own.

Nothing but peck after small peck they exchanged as Blake felt herself melt even further into Yang. Yang seemed to have been waiting for that moment as she shifted her embrace so she supported Blake so fully that even if her legs gave out she'd remain exactly where she was, attached at the hip to her girlfriend.

A loud purr burst forth that quickly turned to a moan of pleasure as Yang's hand gripped her aroused nipple through her shirt and gave it a slight squeeze. Yang used the opportunity to introduce her tongue into the kiss, leaving Blake moaning quietly almost continuously as she felt her muscles tremble.

Moments later, the couple was laying on the floor as Yang quickly unbuttoned Blake's shirt while Blake fumbled with Yang's. Yang finished first and helped the shaking Blake with the last few buttons, smiling into the passionate kiss.

"Felt lucky this morning, huh?" Yang laughed quietly before returning to the kiss.

Blake found herself enjoying the feel of Yang's skin directly on hers as her moan switched back and forth with a pur. Yang pulled away and gently pulled the ribbon out of her partner's hair, tossing it to the side and admiring her topless teammate.

After a few moments, Blake got herself back under control a feeling of lust and frustration fighting for power as she waited for Yang to continue. All thoughts of their location were gone from Blake's mind.

As Blake felt the chill of the air touch her chest, she felt her nipples grow to points, a small shiver running down her spine just before Yang slowly kissed her way down Blake's body while taking her pants off.

Once again, each kiss erupted in warmth that seemed to linger long after Yang's lips had moved on, causing Blake to shift in anticipation. Yang kissed all the way down her leg to her knee before taking the clothing completely off her legs and placing it at the side with their shirts.

"Mission accomplished." Yang joked, standing up and pretending to turn away.

Blake reacted faster than her brain could realize Yang wasn't serious and tackled her to the ground, her lips latching onto Yang's breast as Yang slapped a hand over her mouth to block what would've been a loud moan.

Blake quickly pulled down Yang's pants so they'd be once again equals in degree of undress. Yang smiled down at Blake and nodded, no longer caring whether or not they followed the story completely.

Blake burried her face into Yang's folds, licking the very edge as she felt Yang's aura warm her and the air around them. After a few more licks, Yang's breathing came in short gasps which Blake knew meant she was doing a good job.

Blake plunged a finger into Yang as she moved her mouth up to suck on Yang's sensitive bud as Yang moaned loud enough that even her closed mouth couldn't keep the sound in completely.

Blake kept going even faster, adding a second finger after several moans that turned into panting groans. Yang's muscles tensed as her hips moved automatically, pumping Blake's fingers even faster just before Yang moaned loudly, convulsing with the muscle spasms of her release.

Blake licked Yang once from top to bottom, enjoying the sweet taste before kissing her way back up to Yang's mouth. It took a few minutes for Yang to recover, only reciprocating Blake's enthusiasm in the kiss once she had.

"My turn." Yang said with a smile. "On your knees."

Blake nodded, remembering Yang was telling her a story of sorts. She obliged as Yang moved behind her. Yang pushed Blake's head to the warm ground where her body had just been laying, forcing Blake's arms out to the sides. She pushed Blake's spread legs together and started her torment as Blake realized that the postion allowed her to feel every slight difference in Yang's movement as her tongue licked around the area that Blake knew would be very wet by this time.

Yang surprised Blake by wiping her finger across her damp folds and plunging it in once before she started her oral service.

Blake moaned in pleasure as she felt Yang add another finger to the mix that was moving in and out of her so slow it was torture.

Yang's lips clamped down on her sensitive bud and Blake moaned loudly as she felt herself cum from the slight stimulation. Yang seemed to have been waiting for that as she pulled her fingers out as she moved to lick between Blake's folds. Blake soon forgot about the fingers as Yang's tongue forced its way in and out, the position of her legs allowing her to feel every small millimeter of movement.

Suddenly, Blake gasped as she felt Yang's finger at her other entrance. She'd never done anything like that before, but she'd read that it could be extremely painful.

"Yang!" Blake's whisper turned into a moan as Yang pushed her finger slowly into Blake, causing her to gasp at the lone finger that was penetrating the place she'd never thought she'd use. It came as a bit of a surprise that she found herself wanting Yang to continue.

Yang moved back to sucking on her clit as she moved her slick finger in and out of Blake's ass. Blake moaned loudly and she found herself enjoying the delicious friction as Yang slowly sped up, turning the friction to the edge of pain just before she spit on the finger and started pushing the second one in.

Blake couldn't make a sound as her throat blocked itself, the invasive penetration and friction making something she hadn't felt before slowly build as Yang went back to sucking on her clit.

Just when Blake thought she was finished, Yang used her other hand and started fingering her dripping cunt with an identical rhythm to her ass.

Blake felt the combination of all the sensations build quickly to explosive proportions and she came with a strangled cry as she tried to muffle her mouth in her elbow.

Yang kept up her pace and Blake felt the feeling that would normally start to ebb keep building and suddenly she was afraid of what would happen when it reached its peak.

Yang moaned as she sucked hard on Blake's button. Blake couldn't make a sound as she hit her climax and came so hard she covered Yang's face with her juices as they sprayed out.

She fell to the side as Yang withdrew her fingers. Blake whimpered slightly riding the wave as her body shook with the pleasure she'd experienced. It was several minutes before she recovered enough to realize Yang was cuddled up beside her keeping her warm.

Blake gave Yang a gentle kiss, tasting her juices that had started to dry on Yang's skin. She smiled contentedly as she cuddled closer to Yang.

After a few more minutes Yang pushed Blake away slightly. "I think we should probably get ready for work."

"Huh?" Blake asked, the words not computing in her currently pleasure-addled brain.

"Work. You're supposed to be there in an hour." Yang said with a smile, pulling Blake up to a sitting position. "Also, we're laying naked on a floor of a private, but still completely public bookstore."

Blake thought Yang's points over, her eyes widening as reality settled in. "Give me my clothes!"

"Back at ya." Yang responded, pointing to Blake's other side. "They're right there."

Blake tossed the pile of Yang's clothing to her and quickly donned her own. "We smell like sex…"

"That's because we just did it." Yang rolled her eyes at her teammate.

"No, I mean I need to take a shower before work otherwise everyone will know what I was doing!" Blake said, talking faster the farther into the sentence she got.

"Somehow I don't think you can avoid that at this point." Yang sighed. "So do you want that book I picked out earlier?"

"What?" Blake had her mind on other things but remembered that the writing was actually better than most of the books she'd read. "Uh, I probably have enough for it."

Yang pulled it down and flipped it over. She whistled as she passed Blake the book.

"Five thousand?" Blake gasped in amazement. "It would be cheaper to cut down a tree and process the paper!"

"Don't worry. I've got it." Yang winked before starting to walk back to the front of the store.

Blake hesitated. On one hand she really wanted the book but on the other it was outrageously expensive. And on top of that she didn't have time to think it over since she needed to get half way across the city within an hour.

"Wait up!" She called after Yang, jogging to catch up as she hugged the book to her chest.


	5. Dead Man's Alley: Chapter 5

Ruby was confused when she woke up. _Where am I?_ She wondered, not ready to open her eyes. She tried to think back but only remembered kissing her girlfriend as the plane they were in plummeted to the ground.

 _Weiss._ The thought shoved everything else out of the way as her heart-rate skyrocketed and her eyes snapped open.

The bright light blinded her vision temporarily and she quickly rubbed her eyes clean. Her arm was connected to some type of tubing that pulled tight when she touched her face. Her muscles were more stiff than she'd ever felt them but she didn't pay that any mind.

Her vision was oddly blurry as she looked around at what she assumed was a prison hospital. Six men pointed their rifles at her as she lay on one of the two beds in the room. She turned her head and saw a mane of white in the bed next to hers with another six guards surrounding it. The guards seemed uneasy around her and looking down, Ruby found out why.

Her clothing from their mission had yet to be removed and appeared to be stained with blood in places. In others, the paint had worn off to create the appearance of a very old outfit that had survived hell and was still fit enough to serve its purpose. In other words, she looked like a corpse. One that had just wiped the sleep from its eyes.

"Weiss?" Ruby's voice cracked in a harsh whisper. She coughed a bit, calmly enough not to make the guards jumpy. "Weiss?"

"I'm sleeping. Shhh…" Weiss moaned quietly from her bed. Her voice was equally scratchy from what Ruby could only assume was a fair while without use.

"It's time to wake up." Ruby rasped forcefully. "I think we might have a problem."

Weiss swore as she turned over to find herself not on the same bed as Ruby. She started to rub the sleep from her eyes as she squinted at her partner. "Where are we?"

It took a few moments for her to realize that her most recent memory was something that should've been her last. A few seconds later, she noticed the guns pointed at her and became very still.

 _Shit._ She swore in her head as she quickly glanced around the room to find what tactical situation they were in without moving her head, fearing the guards might get jumpy.

"Weiss!" Ruby gasped as she smiled slightly at the guards while she remained completely still.

"What?" Weiss asked, wondering what Ruby was going on about in the obviously bad situation.

"You just… swore." Ruby said, keeping a close eye on the guards, specifically their fingers that rested just above the triggers of their M16's. "Twice."

"No I di-" Weiss started and then stopped. "You heard that?"

"Uh, yeah?" Ruby asked confused at why it mattered.

 _Because I didn't say it, I thought it._ Weiss's thought spoke to Ruby like words playing out on a tele-prompter inside her head. _This could be useful._

"Let me try!" Ruby sat up quickly making her guards jump back and aim their rifles higher. More than one of them clicked their safeties off but she ignored them and closed her eyes concentrating on a test sentence. _Can you hear me now?_

 _Of course I can you dolt! Now lay back down slowly or it looks like those idiots might shoot you._ Weiss responded irritatedly.

Ruby relaxed, placing her hands behind her head as she fell back to her horizontal position. _That is so cool! I wonder if that's what Yang and Blake… hold on… does that mean…?_

 _That would be a safe assumption._ Weiss responded. _It could be problematic later, but we've got more pressing issues to deal with first._

 _Right… any ideas?_ Ruby asked, wondering what they could do unarmed against six times their numbers.

 _Take that tube out of your arm as soon as I make a distraction._ Weiss responded.

The next moment, all twelve guards opened fire as Weiss pulled up two massive glyphs that hovered just above herself and Ruby protecting them from the guards who were also trapped half way through the glyphs.

The firing didn't last long and Weiss felt a large draw on her aura as she struggled to keep the glyphs in place. The angle of fire was thankfully low otherwise she knew she wouldn't have been able to keep it going so long. _Ruby, hurry! I can't keep this going!_

 _I'm… done!_ Ruby rolled quickly under the edge of the bed as she unclipped the lone leather belt that held her in place. She drew a combat knife out of the belt of one of the guards and held it against his neck as Weiss used the distraction Ruby'd provided to mirror her movements.

Unfortunately Weiss couldn't get the needle in her arm out clean and ended up with a steady stream of blood flowing down her arm. She used the bare minimum amount of Aura to heal as she drew the knives out of two guard's belts before wrapping them both in a hug to guard her from both sides while her hands held the shining silver blades to their throats.

"Who want's to drop their weapons?" Ruby asked, peeking out from behind the man she was holding prisoner.

A single shot rang out, snapping the guard's head backwards as blood exploded outwards from the entry hole.

"Guess not." Ruby dropped the guard and used her semblance to move to the next closest guard, her knife slashing at his armour and tearing at his hands until he dropped the gun and went for Ruby unarmed. She kept circling to keep the guards on two sides of her so they wouldn't fire for fear of the crossfire proving fatal if the rounds missed the quickly moving target.

Ruby hit her opponent once in the head with the handle of the knife, dropping him unconscious and moving to the next guard before the first had even started his descent to the ground.

Weiss was watching all this through a small glyph that protected her head as she slowly forced the two guards to edge around the outside of the room.

"Stop." A voice from the doorway called just as Ruby was about to smash yet another guard unconscious.

The remaining guards all dropped their weapons as the man walked in. Ruby'd never seen someone like him before, but he looked like he might be a doctor. _What do you think?_ She asked Weiss quickly, not ready to ignore him as a potential threat.

 _Ex-military, scholar, seems to think he's got the situation, whatever that is, under control. Play along?_ Weiss summarized, noticing the way the man walked along with his calm, yet not masked expression.

"O-kay. Mind telling me why these idiots thought they should stand around pointing their guns at us?" Ruby asked him, the anger in her voice apparent.

"Unfortunately you two have been labeled as terrorists. My job is to transport you to a secondary location after you regained consciousness." He stated as if he was commenting on the weather.

"And what makes you think we'll go quietly? I have no intention of going to jail." Ruby said, spinning the knife in her hand threateningly.

"Ah, right. The list." He mumbled as he patted several pockets before finding the one he was looking for. "I trust this will convince you."

He withdrew a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Ruby who quickly unfolded it and read past the illegible legal junk at the top.

She froze and dropped her knife, looking back at Weiss. _They've got… Yang, Blake, Nora… everyone._

Weiss sighed, dropping her glyph and her knives before shoving the two men out of her way. She looked down the list herself and noted that it was only their two teams along with team CRDL that was listed.

 _No Ozpin or Qrow, huh?_ She thought more to herself than to Ruby, wondering what was happening.

"I assume you will come quietly?" He asked as if nothing had happened.

Ruby and Weiss exchanged a glance and both nodded as they felt the remaining guards pull their arms behind their backs and fasten zip ties around their wrists. Whatever was going on, it was obviously a big mistake.

* * *

"So that isn't how your day normally starts, is it?" Yang asked. She had her arms and legs bound tightly with rope and was forced to lay on the floor since she couldn't bend her legs to sit on the bench that ran along the wall. She also had two small burn marks on her neck were the lucky Taser rounds had made their way past her defenses.

Blake sighed. She was simply cuffed at her wrists and ankles and was sitting beside two guards who were aiming their guns at her. "No. No it's not."

"I thought so." Yang laughed, making the two guards exchange a glance, obviously wondering which of the two huntresses were more dangerous.

"So any idea what type of terrorism we committed?" Blake asked, just to make conversation. She hated not being able to read when nothing was happening.

"Maybe we went and blew up government buildings while we were asleep." Yang tried to shrug. "Or maybe it was the top secret plan that we used our inside connections to leak info to our friends from… whatever they call the group we're supposedly a part of."

"Maybe we knocked off the General." Blake suggested.

Everything went silent for a moment then both girls started laughing hysterically. The van hit a bump and Blake found herself leaning over Yang. The guards picked her up and placed her back in the seat, their expressions slightly confused as to how the two managed to make jokes in such a serious situation.

"Yeah, like that'd happen!" Yang laughed as she finally calmed down enough to speak. "You're smooth, but not that smooth!"

"And like you'd even know how to rig an explosive!" Blake shot back with a grin. "Or figure out a secret plan hidden in tomorrow's lunch menu!"

"Well you don't have to be so mean about it!" Yang made a mock pouty face that sent another round of laughter through both girls.

They didn't notice the van stopping and the rear doors opening until an impatient cough brought them back to the real world.

"Hate to break up the fun time." He said, obviously not bothered in the least by needing to interrupt. "Get up and follow me. Fall behind, and there'll be a bullet with your name on it."

The man jumped out of the truck and one of the guards cut the rope that was binding Yang's legs before tossing both girls out of the back after the man and closing the doors.

"Well, he seems like a nice guy." Yang said sarcastically, shrugging off the rope that had come loose from her tumble on the ground. "I guess we better follow."

"Yeah." Blake nodded, wishing her cuffs had been taken off too.

* * *

The room was completely dark. Not a single bit of light came from anywhere, even the door she'd been brought in through. She hadn't seen anyone else, but that was because of the sack she'd had over her head. It wasn't the most glamorous way for a public figure to be arrested, but she had to admit the police had been determined. It was only once they outnumbered her by fifty and her kill count had tripled that, that she fell under the bombardment of attacks. Even then she had only been forced to defend, locked in a brutal stalemate that would go nowhere until she lost concentration.

She looked around the room again. Still nothing. Nothing except the sound of breathing, but she couldn't speak. She also had a gag over her mouth making any noise other than a grunt impossible.

Several more minutes passed and finally something happened. A small white crack appeared at the base of the wall before a door opened above it, flooding the room with light. The man turned on a light switch flooding the room in bright fluorescent light that spread and reflected off the white walls in blinding brilliance.

"Sit down!" The man said, standing to the side as two girls Pyrrha knew walked in and sat at the two chairs directly across from her. A guard came in and cuffed them to the chairs just as she had been and left the first man as he shut the door.

He walked slowly up the isle created by the twelve chairs that Pyrrha realized held her team, team RWBY and team CRDL.

"You all know why you were arrested. I'm here to inform you of what happens next." He said as he kicked one of the boys in the shin, making him move it out of the isle.

"Actually, we don't." Yang stated with a shrug. Her and Blake were the only two without gags, and Pyrrha knew that they'd have to do all the talking this time around.

"You've been arrested for various acts of terrorism. Possession of stolen military documents, illegal weapons testing and trafficking, covert reconnaissance of top military officials and conspiring to assassinate said officials, theft of government building blueprints, compromising government databases, and the destruction of a key outpost in grimm territory near a nest." He listed off quickly, not stopping to explain other than the official charges. "We normally execute on the spot. However, today you're a lucky bunch. You'll be participating in the upcoming games. Long story short, it's a televised tournament where the winner is escorted outside Atlas borders and left for dead in grimm territory. The losers die in the arena."

It took a few minutes for the words to sink in and then Blake spoke up for the group. "That's illegal."

"It is if you have rights, which you lost when you became a criminal." The man said bluntly. "The moment you were arrested for acts of terrorism, you lost all rights including that to your life."

He started walking out of the room and stopped as if he just remembered something important.

"Also, the last contestants standing must face off against the top hunter team in Atlas to secure their freedom." He turned once more and smiled evilly. "The council will have its corpses."

After several moments, the sound of ripping fabric could be heard from farther down the row. As it grew in volume, there was a gasp and a small amount of heavy breathing as Ruby caught her breath.

"That was pretty cool. You'll have to try mine out later." Ruby said to the room, nobody gave any indication they knew what she was talking about.

A short rip and snap sounded from beside Ruby, and Weiss replied. "Good idea, but you wasted a lot of energy taking so long."

"Well, why don't you finish the rest then?" Ruby asked, slightly frustrated with Weiss's lack of praise for her ingenuity.

Pyrrha watched as minuscule glyphs popped up in the gags around everyone else's mouths and ripped apart, falling to the ground as everyone caught a good lung full of air.

"Welcome to the party." Cardin groaned in the direction of Yang and Blake. They noticed he looked pretty bruised compared to normal.

"Anyone want to let us know what's going on?" Yang asked, more serious.

"We've been framed." Jaune said shortly. "I thought I saw something suspicious but I didn't think to say anything till I knew for sure."

"That's why you asked me to look into the exhibition." Pyrrha said, pieces clicking together from their earlier conversation.

"It's really a slaughter." Dove said unhelpfully.

"And AIM is the terrorist group that we're supposedly a part of." Jaune continued. "Allegiance In Mystral. Not a very good name for a terrorist organization, but they definitely make up for it with results."

"That's why it sounded familiar." Blake sighed her head leaning back so she stared at the white ceiling. "The White Fang did a few joint ops against Atlas and Schnee Corp with them a long time ago. I was never part of the operations though."

"Which also explains why we got arrested." Sky said. "We were supposed to be unloading a transport full of dust. Showed up empty, got busted for theft."

"Just one question, how did everyone get here?" Yang asked curiously. "I mean what reason were you arrested for?"

"Testing and selling weapons." Cardin said. "I was with Sky on the dust assignment."

"Possessing stolen documents." Nora said. "But I was sort of tied up so I didn't even ever touch the case they were in."

"Planning to kill off the General for us." Pyrrha said with a nod to Ren who sat next to her.

"We blew shit up!" Ruby cheered causing Yang to grin at her renegade sister.

"We actually did that, Ruby." Weiss stated with a sigh. "That crystal had the largest range I've ever even heard of."

"I hacked the government and changed a few things around." Jaune said. "But there's no way they could have traced it back to me. They were probably grasping at straws."

"That leaves the building blueprints as us." Blake told Yang after she finished checking things off her mental checklist.

"Why would we do that? Weren't we supposed to be security?" Yang asked, her confusion evident in her voice.

"We were guarding a building that was going to replace City Hall." Blake said looking back down at everyone.

"So, what happened after we blew that stuff up?" Ruby asked. "All I can remember is dying then waking up in a hospital bed with guns aimed at me."

"Same here." Weiss admitted.

"I suppose we have enough time." Pyrrha said as she glanced back to the door that was the only entrance or exit to the room.

"Nothing but time." Cardin grumbled as he shifted his seating position and shut his eyes as if to fall asleep.


	6. Slaughterdome Deathmatch: Chapter 6

Weiss woke to find herself laying on dirt. A damaged weapon lay at her side. It wasn't Myrtenaster, just a run of the mill rapier with a slightly bent blade that indicated it'd been through the ringer.

She looked around to find Ruby also sitting up, a single shield laying beside her. There was nothing else in the small room whose walls were composed almost entirely of bars and Weiss figured that these were all the weapons they'd get to face off against whoever they were meant to fight.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have the father and son against the two orphaned sisters!" A loud robotic voice announced as the bars around the room shifted and started pushing the two girls out of the cage to a door that appeared to be opening as the bars moved farther and farther.

A roar of cheers and jeers rang out as Ruby and Weiss stepped under some large spotlights. The sky beyond was dark, making it impossible to see how many people were watching but the subtle flash of a camera told her that everything was being recorded.

They were standing in a large dirt circle. The dirt seemed to be stained dark in places, some places still looking wet while others looked like they'd been there for years already.

"Ahhh!" A voice yelled, getting Weiss's attention as she jumped out of the way. Ruby's semblance had kicked in and sent her skidding to a halt twenty feet away.

The old man was wielding a sword that looked familiar and the child hiding behind him had a shield that bore the emblem of Jaune's family.

"Seriously?" Weiss asked Ruby who shrugged unhelpfully. "We have to fight a guy that can barely walk and a kid who isn't strong enough to pick up a shield?"

"Apparently." Ruby said, blocking the man's attack as he swung the sword again. It was obvious he had no combat experience as the sword bounced off Ruby's shield and landed in the soft dirt beside her, but not before leaving a decently sized dent.

The man panted, the small amount of physical activity too much for his old system. Tears were already streaming down his face as Weiss approached. The crowd seemed to be chanting, slowly getting in sync as they repeated the same phrase over and over.

Weiss stopped before the man, pulling the weapon out of the man's hands and handing it to Ruby. Ruby gave Weiss the smaller shield and went to take the larger one from the child. The small boy dropped the piece of metal and pressed himself into the wall as he watched Ruby come closer, pick up the sheild and then ignore him.

The crowds words were now repeating loudly, leaving no doubt about what they wanted. _Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!_ The chanting continued, Ruby and Weiss looking at each other in doubt.

"Please…" The old man begged as a tear ran down his face. Weiss sighed and looked over at her partner.

"I know we've done stuff like this before, but this time I'm out." Weiss secured the shield on her arm and placed the horrible rapier in the space between it and her arm.

Ruby smiled and nodded, collapsing Jaune's shield and dropping it onto her belt.

A explosion of color exploded in the air in the middle of the arena's open roof as a firework went off.

"Winners: The Two Orphaned Sisters!" The voice announced as two explosions echoed through the arena. Weiss jumped back as the man's head snapped back, spraying the ground with blood as the bullet hit dirt on the other side. His lifeless body fell to the ground, his eyes shining lifelessly with the last tears he'd shed.

The boy close to Ruby was slumped like he was sleeping, but the two girls knew better.

"This is one messed up game." Ruby echoed Weiss's thoughts as she led her girlfriend to the exit that was lit up for them.

* * *

Blake found herself standing in the large arena armed with Ruby's weapon. She'd used scythe's before, but Ruby's weapon was a lot heavier than any scythe she'd ever experienced before. To top it all off, the timid looking girl at the other end was holding her gambol shroud like a gun.

Like someone who'd never held a gun before.

She looked beside her at Yang. Yang was the only one who didn't have any type of weapon. She'd left the shiv of a broken sword in their holding room, instead trusting her hand to hand skills to take care of herself and her partner.

The girl's partner, an older woman who looked like she could handle herself well was the real threat in the fight. She held Weiss's rapier in a standard fencing stance, but the slight adjustments she'd done just after taking that stance said all they needed to. She knew how to use rapiers. How well was the issue.

This put Yang and Blake at a disadvantage with the exception that there were still three rounds in Ruby's weapon that would be able to take the woman out at a distance.

"How do you want to do this?" Yang asked quietly as the crowd looked on with bated breath at the showdown.

"Honestly? I don't." Blake responded but shook her wishes from her head. They wouldn't help anything right now. "How about we ask them what they want to do?"

"Sure, why not?" Yang asked sarcastically before raising her voice to call out to their two opponents. "We're not big fans of this sideshow. We'll let you choose how this goes down."

"I have a family!" The older woman yelled in response. Their voices echoed out of the amplification system far overhead so the crowd could witness the confrontation. "I have to get back to my children!"

Yang felt a stab of sympathy for the mother who started closing the space between the groups. Blake held onto Yang's shoulder and squeezed as she passed Yang the scythe.

"I've got this." Blake said before giving Yang a quick peck on the cheek.

The crowd roared in joy at the piece of side story given to the fight, making it more interesting to discover the outcome.

"As you can see, I've got someone I also want to protect." Blake said, waving her arm out to Yang as she closed the gap so she was well within range of any attacks the woman might make. "But I also know that my job doesn't end here. I need to get to the end and do my part to fix things that are wrong with this world. Things like this tournament."

The woman responded with a quick slashing attack that cut Blake's head off. Except that the dead Blake dissolved into nothingness as she spoke now from behind the woman.

"You aren't a huntress." She observed. "I was in training when Vale was attacked. I also know who's weapon that is."

The woman armed the weapon with red dust and let fly a fireball that once again incinerated a Blake that was already standing off to the side.

"Please, I was in training to kill monsters. You're not a monster. I won't kill you." Blake said soothingly, staying the exact same distance from the woman as she spoke.

"But I need to get back to my family!" The woman said, choking back tears.

"And I'm giving you the option." Blake said calmly. She looked around the woman at the younger girl and the woman moved to block Blake's view. "Your daughter?"

"Niece." The woman stated shortly.

"I'll get you out. If you just put down the weapon, we'll protect you. We'll make sure you can see your family again." Blake said, slowly closing the remaining space as the rapier's tip dropped to the ground.

The woman dropped her weapon and wrapped Blake in a hug. "I just wanted to see my girls again." She cried as Blake rubbed her back. She saw the neice drop her weapon, following her aunt's lead.

"You will." Blake assured her just before the explosion echoed through the arena. She felt the slight jolt just before the woman stopped supporting her own weight, a sticky liquid poured out on her arm and top as Blake let the woman fall from her embrace. The young girl was lying on the ground spread eagle, a lone red dot visible on her forehead where there was nothing before. A small stain of red spreading from her head to the dirt beneath her.

Yang made her way past Blake, picking up the rapier on the way. She stopped an scooped up Gambol Shroud before heading to the exit. She didn't turn back as she spoke to Blake who was starting to shake from the shock of the event. "This place is fucked up." The only comment that seemed appropriate as the crowd cheered and fireworks exploded overhead. The announcer telling everyone that they'd won through forfeit.

Blake hesitated in thought for a moment, but started following her partner. _This isn't winning, it's just losing to a lesser extent._

* * *

Ren woke next to Nora. Oddly enough, Nora seemed subdued compared to normal, but that could be the lack of sleep she'd had. Her nightmares had returned full force with the predicament they were in, and seemed to be worsening the longer she stayed separated from him physically.

He walked out of the small cage, Yang's gauntlets held on his wrists by their odd clasp that seemed like it might break at any moment. The weapons were easy enough to use, but required an initial flare of aura. A flare he refused to use until necessary.

He noticed that they were the first out of their cage and took a meditative seat. Nora, always being quick to jump up, lay her head on his lap calmly as she held the mace that Cardin normally used like a teddy bear.

After several seconds, he noticed she'd appeared to have fallen asleep. Ren smiled down at his girlfriend and tenderly stroked her head as he watched his peripheral vision for any sign of his opponents.

An elderly couple emerged after several minutes. One was wheezing and the other seemed to be swaying unsteadily as the two held onto each other. They carried their weapons up to Ren and dropped them before managing to sit down in front of him also.

"I'm regretful that we're being forced to do this." Ren told the couple quietly so as not to disturb Nora.

"We've had our time. Now it's yours." The man said with a smile. "I'm a retired hunter, so believe me when I tell you: protect her with everything you've got. Even your life. Otherwise there ain't much point come the end, is there?"

"Thank you." Ren bowed his head and accepted the gift of his own weapons and Pyrrha's shield from them.

They nodded and closed their eyes as the shots rang out in the quiet stadium. The two fell back, their hands still intertwined in their companionship.

 _Together until the last…_ Ren thought about what their last words had been. He already knew them, but it strengthened his resolve to keep his partner safe. He slowly moved Nora so he could pick her up and carry her out of the arena, away from the grisly sight before him. The crowd remained silent as he left, none very entertained by the events of the match. Ren wished he'd at least known the names of the two behind him, but realized it wouldn't matter very much. Not now, at least.

* * *

Pyrrha pushed Jaune hard as she used the leftover momentum to dive in the other direction as an explosion ripped a large divot into the dirt floor. The airborne dirt fell around her as she coughed and got back to her feet. On the other side of the smoking hole, Jaune was doing the same.

"There is no spoon! Ahahahaha!" The crazed man screamed and laughed as he waved Nora's weapon above his head, firing off rounds at the ceiling that immediately was covered by a mesh of lasers, keeping the explosive rounds from harming the crowd.

Pyrrha readjusted her grip on the halberd that she knew belonged to Sky Lark. The weapon was odd considering how used she was to her own spear, but it was light enough that she only needed to be careful not to catch herself on a back-swing.

She moved forward and slowly approached the crazy man while Jaune circled in the other direction. A pair of daggers clutched in both hands as he entered the man's blind-spot.

He let out a yell and charged, making the man spin, firing Nora's weapon at intervals as he aligned the weapon with Jaune.

Pyrrha had used the distraction to close the gap and take a swipe at the man.

Jaune was surprised when Pyrrha's weapon landed part way through the man's chest, and he dropped Nora's launcher to the ground before collapsing in a pool of his own blood while he convulsed as he suffocated and bled profusely.

"That actually went a lot quicker than I thought it would." Jaune admitted as Pyrrha wiped the weapon off on the man's shirt before picking up Nora's weapon and leading Jaune to the other entrance of the arena.

Pyrrha entered first, giving a yelp of surprise.

"Wait! Don't…" She trailed off as Jaune poked his head into the room.

"What…" Jaune looked at the dimly lit room that was… dripping. He noticed a lump along the wall on the far side of the room. The person's stomach was blown open as if they'd swallowed a grenade. Beside the corpse lay Pyrrha's spear. Jaune cautiously approached, gulping down the urge to run as the fluid coated walls and ceiling dripped onto his blond hair.

"Ugh! That's disgusting." Pyrrha grumbled, picking up her weapon with two fingers. She turned back to Jaune for a second before continuing. "I'm going to wipe this off on the guy outside."

"Sure." Jaune said as he crouched to get a better look at the body.

What he saw sent him running for fresh air and collapsing on the ground coughing as his empty stomach tried valiantly to send something back up.

"Did you see there were bite marks?" Jaune asked, his voice an entire octave higher than normal.

"Yes." Pyrrha nodded, still working to get her spear clean of at least some of the blood. "Yes I did."

* * *

"Say that one more time."

"They are holding a tournament where terrorists compete for their freedom." Glynda responded calmly. "The matches end when one team gives up or a team is killed. All three teams have been taken."

"I see…" Ozpin muttered, wondering where the general came into this. "And our leader?"

"Off on vacation." Glynda answered. "I've tracked the orders from his office though."

"I see. How are the teams?" Ozpin asked, wondering how ruined his plans had become from this unforeseen circumstance.

"Team three's latter half was severely injured. They barely managed to survive an encounter with a professional team. It's probable that they will recover by the next round." Glynda said shortly, not wishing to elaborate in the discussion further.

"And the civilians?" Ozpin asked with regret for his decision to evacuate growing by the second.

"I'm afraid that from one cause or another, the fatality rate of the refugees is disappointingly high. Only about sixty percent remain alive, and half of those moved to another kingdom after arriving in Atlas." Glynda said sadly. "A small number of them have also been accused of terrorism, but we both know that now that the first round is over, there's nothing to be done about that."

"I see. Keep an eye out for anything else that raises your suspicions." Ozpin said before hanging up. He looked out over the large coliseum, remembering the millions that had once filled the seats as they looked on to music groups performing or the most recent sports competition.

The place had been abandoned decades before when the grimm had burst through the weak wall that was still under construction. Many had died that day in the evacuation as the grimm seemed to move with a common purpose towards the millions of humans and faunus in the stands.

 _If my guess is right, then he is still here._ He picked a small black stone out of his pocket and held it tightly in his hand, drawing as much energy into his aura as he could. He closed his eyes as his energy hit the critical point and burst forth in a wave.

He opened his eyes to find the massive ring of energy spread, then slowly congregate to a certain point in the stands on the other side of the stadium.

It only took ten minutes to get to the other side as he jogged tirelessly through the middle of the overgrown field at the stadium's center. Once he arrived, he repeated the process, watching his energy disappear this time going through the floor of the stands.

Ozpin took the long walk back to the entrance to the maintenance area he'd frequented during the construction of the place and slowly forced his way in through the rusted metal door. Beneath the coliseum was a maze of tunnels that descended deep underground to act as an emergency shelter from a grimm attack. Unfortunately, they had never been used. The dust was almost a foot thick, silencing his progress as he released a burst of aura at every intersection, searching for the device drawing his energy out of the air.

It was several hours later that his scroll beeped with information he'd find useless in his current search. He continued on until he reached a dead end. He tried pulsing his aura once more to find the energy disappear through the wall he was standing in front of.

 _I'm running out of time._ He thought as he looked back the way he'd come. The almost pitch black hall sitting as silent as it had been before he'd walked by and disturbed it.

He turned back to the wall, reaching out with the black stone in his hand. He flared his aura one last time, drawing energy from the almost depleted black stone as the energy cut through the stone, making an opening that was just large enough for him to squeeze through.

He emerged in a massive machine room that appeared to have no access points save the one he created for himself. He walked carefully through the dust that had settled here too. The machines were still working, gears slowly cranking away and in some places grinding from lack of oil.

It was amazing to think that these machines had been built only twenty years ago when the technology was from centuries past. The room was a reminder of the one tough lesson that Ozpin had learned only after the ultimate price had been paid.

"Who is there?" A deep voice boomed from the darkness, the machines never pausing as the whole room vibrated with the force of the unnatural voice.

"It depends to whom I speak." Ozpin answered simply, continuing towards the voice.

"I who dwells in dark and fear. I who kills those who near. Some label thy plate Legion." A small pause was interrupted only by the sound of Ozpin's footsteps. "Legion, I am not. But a legion, I have become." The voice ended and there was another brief silence as Ozpin's muffled footsteps continued on across the never-ending room. It was at least a minute before the voice continued. "I ask now again. Who disturbs my slumber?"

"My name is that of the light and of hope. The defender of your enemies." Ozpin said shortly, stopping to find out what the voice would respond with. He was not disappointed.

"Welcome, Ozpin. It has been quite a long time since we last exchanged words. Welcome to my home. Welcome to the boundary between Life and Death." The voice fell silent, it's unnatural song disappearing as if it had never been.

Ozpin continued his walk, the machines on the walls were growing even more ancient as he continued, slowly transforming from metal gears and mechanisms behind plastic and glass, to large stone wheels that slowly turned, their gears worn down to becoming almost non existent.

Then, a massive bowl in the floor made him stop as he looked down into a place that had once held water for cooling and lubricating the ancient machinery. In the center, suspended at where the surface would have been had it been replenished, a massive person-sized brass box sat still, suspended ominously as millions of small gears along the outside of the box slowly turned in time with the machinery behind him.

"This is my grave. And for the time being, I shall welcome you within it."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Thanks for reading, and sorry for the late update! Everything should be back to weekly updates now.**


	7. Slaughterdome Deathmatch: Chapter 7

"Keep moving!" Ruby called to Weiss who'd fallen behind a few steps as they turned a corner.

The arena had turned into a massive maze for round two, and now their opponents were actually capable of killing them.

"We already took two down! Shouldn't this be over?" Weiss called, glancing over her shoulder and ducking as a knife flew over her head and embedded itself in the wall. "I mean, how many teams are fighting right now?"

"No idea, but I just saw someone try to get above the wall." Ruby said as she turned a corner and grabbed Weiss to swing her in the right direction just before a fireball flew past the opening to their new corridor.

"Did it work?" Weiss asked doubtfully.

"He got chopped in half." Ruby nodded, with a gesture at the shimmering field that covered the top of the maze.

"Well, if we don't find a way to get rid of this asshole!" Weiss aimed the word behind her and was rewarded as another knife flew by and was incinerated as it went skyward from the reflection off her glyph. "We might as well climb out too."

"Any ideas would be brilliant, princess!" Ruby huffed, annoyed with her complaining teammate.

"Well, how about you give him a kick in the rear!" Weiss yelled, grabbing Ruby's arm and swinging her around to run in the opposite direction. Ruby saw Weiss's plan and dodged through their pursuers legs, making him spin and lose his footing as Weiss tripped him with a small glyph.

He stumbled for a few second, throwing knives as he flew through the air before landing in front of Weiss.

"Not your lucky day, huh?" Weiss asked sarcastically before stabbing her malformed rapier through the man's eye and into his brain. His short scream ended quicker than it started, and Weiss pulled the bloody weapon out, quickly wiping it on the man's shirt.

"That was awesome!" Ruby squealed, coming back to her partner and planting a quick peck on her cheek. "It was like the finishing move Xander did in Dark Eclipse 42 Revision 6!"

"Seriously? You compare me to a video game?" Weiss laughed as she took Ruby's hand and let the red haired girl lead her away from the dead man.

"Not just any video game!" Ruby corrected. "DE42 6 was the best one ever made! And Xander was the most deadly assassin ever to be seen in the series!"

"He died right?" Weiss asked, remembering a conversation from months earlier.

"Uh, well that doesn't mean anything." Ruby realized where it was going.

"Please don't compare me to a dead guy. I like being alive." Weiss scolded with a smile before leaning in and kissing Ruby on her cheek. "But as long that lasts, I don't want to fight."

Ruby felt herself start to cry. This unfortunately, was their new reality in these deadly games. Fighting to live just a little longer against others in exactly the same predicament. It was disgusting. _What monster came up with this?_ Was the only question she could ask whenever she started to think about these supposed games. _Do the people even realize we're being killed? Would they care?_

"Hey… hold on… stop." Weiss pulled Ruby to a stop. Ruby quickly wiped her eyes on her increasingly stained outfit that must have had at least four different people's blood staining different sections. "Everything's going to be okay. Okay?"

Ruby nodded, trusting her girlfriend as Weiss wrapped her arms around her.

"Now, we are going to survive, and live for a long time still." Weiss said soothingly, rubbing Ruby's back the way she found always calmed her down. "We just have to deal with this annoying tournament first."

"It's a bitch, huh?" Ruby laughed, patting Weiss on the back and extricating herself from the hug.

"Kind of, yeah." Weiss laughed grimly as she turned to a yell she heard.

Ruby pushed Weiss up against the wall of their corridor as two knives flew past in opposite directions. Two grunts of pain sounded before the two men collapsed on the ground in puddles of their own blood.

Weiss looked back and forth at the two men who'd conveniently tried to kill them at the same time and bit back a laugh. "Lucky for us there were two of them."

"We have winners!" The announcer screamed from the unseen crowd.

"I have a feeling that luck wont last for long." Ruby muttered, taking Weiss's hand as the walls fell, leading them back to an entrance where they'd await the next round.

* * *

Nora ran through the corridors looking for Ren. He'd been there a moment ago, and then some guy had distracted her, making her change directions to avoid his sword.

She'd bashed his skull in with the oddly large but light mace she'd been using as a weapon. Now she was trying to find out which of the path's Ren had taken to pursue the person they'd been chasing.

"REN!" Nora yelled loudly. No response. She hadn't expected one with all the background noise of the fighting and the roaring crowd.

She turned to find Ren stumble back into her corridor before looking behind him and pushing off the wall to start sprinting back to Nora.

"Run Nora!" He called hoarsely as he fiddled with his weapon to get the slightly damaged mechanism to snap back.

"Ren!" Nora replied running up to him and almost tackling him in a hug.

"Not the time, Nora." Ren warned with a grunt as he gently pushed her away and returned to his sprint.

"Why…" Nora asked, but stopped as she saw the massive muscle of a man come lumbering around the corner wielding something not dissimilar in appearance to a rocket launcher. "Yikes!"

Nora quickly ran to Ren and tackled him into the next corridor as a rocket flew by and detonated with enough force to deafen the two. Ren lay on the ground coughing as he felt the air slowly come back into his lungs after Nora had landed on him. Nora stood and looked back around the corner, deciding she'd need to do something smart for once without relying on Ren.

"This goes around in a square, right?" Nora asked Ren who nodded, uncomprehendingly as he got back to his feet. "Then I need you to keep his attention, and don't get blown up, 'cause I'm not done dating you yet, and I might wanna get married someday, but not today, and-"

"Nora! Point?" Ren barked out, interrupting her rambling that had come back full force after her brief nap between the first and second rounds.

"Right!" Nora stopped, and went back to the place she'd gone off on a tangent. "Anyway, you keep him busy and I'll circle round."

"Probably our only chance now." Ren answered with a nod. Nora started to run away, but Ren caught her hand, pulling her back for a quick kiss. She smiled at him as he brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Be careful."

"Okay." Nora couldn't manage any other words. She knew very well what was at stake here in this arena, and unfortunately, she wasn't very good at dealing with these sorts of things. "Okay."

Before she could think about it too much, she took off at a sprint. She disappeared around the corner just as the lumbering man came around the corner to find Ren standing far from any other escape route.

"Looks like I win, ninja boy." The man laughed in a deep voice. "I'll be sure to say hi to your girl when I kill her too."

Ren felt his weapon's pin finally click back into place. "That's not going to happen."

The man fired a rocket as Ren opened fire, his rounds hitting and detonating the explosive before it made it even half way to his position. The force of the shock wave was amazing as it picked him up and sent him sprawling ten feet back from where he'd been standing. He felt his aura deplete as it healed internal injuries the wave of energy had caused.

The man was laughing behind the cloud, thinking he'd won when Ren regained his feet. He used a little more aura to heal his legs and he ran through the smoke.

He jumped, bringing the knife down onto the man's shoulder, slicing the skin open before he landed out of the man's reach.

"Your aim is a bit lacking." Ren smiled, noticing Nora turn the corner as the man roared and jumped at Ren who jumped back, keeping the distance.

He faked a punch, and Ren dodged straight into the path of his weapon as the man grinned wickedly, his finger tensing on the trigger.

An explosion sent both of them flying backwards. Ren spun in the air and landed on his feet to find Nora swinging her mace out in a large vertical arc. She launched herself into the air and brought the weapon down as the man rolled out of the way of her strike. The ground exploded violently as the mace bit the dirt and the man was sent tumbling into a wall.

Ren ran back to his partner and fired his weapons at the man as he tried to regain his feet. Nora swung her mace around in a massive arc, letting the momentum pick up as she switched the handle between her hands like a leader of a parade twirling their baton.

She brought the weapon down on the man's back, sending him crashing to the ground as a shock wave blasted dirt out from the area around her weapon. He grunted as Nora followed up with two more hits, weakening and breaking the man's ribs.

Ren jumped past Nora and brought his bladed gun down on the man's throat in a clean swipe, cutting through muscle and veins like a hot knife through butter.

He stood as the man's blood burst from the gaping wound and quickly grabbed Nora to pull her away.

"You okay?" Nora asked, feeling Ren's stiff grip on her shoulder as he walked quickly away, pushing her slightly faster than she could walk without jogging.

"Fine." Ren answered, easing up on her shoulder as he guided them around a corner to put the man's body out of sight.

"Thank you for saving me." Nora smiled playfully, pulling Ren's face down for a peck on his cheek.

"You saved me." Ren pointed out, not wanting to take credit for something he didn't do.

"Oh, that's right. I did do that, didn't I?" Nora pondered curiously. "Do I get a reward for saving you? Because if I do, I think I know what I want, but then there are actually two things. So if I save you again, do I get both? Or is it only one? Or does this one time let me ask for both things? I-"

"Nora. Slow down." Ren laughed at how cheerful she could be given the circumstance. "Just tell me what you want."

"Oh, okay. Well, at first I was thinking I wanted to go for a nap again, because it was so good to not have another one of those dreams, but then I thought you'd let me do that anytime anyway, right?" Nora asked rhetorically, before continuing after a pause too short for Ren to even realize he'd been asked a question. "Anyway, then I thought I wanted to have some pancakes, but they forgot to put a stove in here, so we'll have to find a kitchen first. Then-"

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The last competitor in this round seems to have bled out! We have our winners!" The announcer interrupted Nora's babble, letting Ren breath a sigh of relief as he finally replaced his weapons in their holsters on the insides of his sleeves.

"Pancakes sound good." Ren told Nora's somewhat confused expression, changing it to a smile.

"Awesome! You promise?" She asked suspiciously, eying Ren as if he had a habit of lying.

"Definitely." Ren smiled, taking Nora's hand and leading her down the hall that was created from the collapsing walls. "We'll get out and then I'll make you pancakes."

* * *

"Um, what now?" Jaune asked Pyrrha, looking at the arena that resembled a maze.

"I'd say let's wait a bit. That way we can figure out how many we're up against." Pyrrha advised, listening to the crowd above. There was no way she'd be able to tell the difference between the sound of battle from the noise they were making, but every minute they spent without meeting up with other combatants was another minute they'd be given an advantage with their unused aura.

"Sure, why not." Jaune said as he walked back into the room, farther from the door as Pyrrha kept watch. When they were in the room there was always almost no light. Now however, with the massive door wide open, the light was able to shine in and illuminate exactly what the room was comprised of.

The massive bars that made up the walls were actually fitted into short slots on the ground and had small areas at either end that seemed to be used for rotating them into and out of the way of the opening when the rounds started or ended. The computer algorithm that ran the opening and closing was probably primitive if not entirely analog, using clockwork instead of the newer technology that was available since it was both cheaper and easier to maintain.

The bars seemed solid, but only where Jaune had inspected them around the middle. The real key had to be the pivot point. The place where the bar moved had to be partially disconnected while it was moving. If he could find a way to keep them disconnected, or better yet, destroy the pivots completely, they could escape to wherever the under part of the stands took them.

"Someone's coming!" Pyrrha announced in a harsh whisper.

Jaune snapped out of his thoughts as he drew his twin daggers. He crouched on the opposite side of the door from Pyrrha as two people walked by, their feet making soft thuds as they left shallow footprints in the sand.

Pyrrha's eyes met Jaune's as she nodded with a finger on her mouth. Pyrrha readied her spear and jumped out of her hiding spot just as her target disappeared from her spot in front of her and reappeared behind her with her weapon's blade to her neck.

"Pyrrha?" Blake asked, astounded at the person she had her weapon to.

"Blake? Yang?" Pyrrha asked, her grip on her weapon slackening as Blake stepped away from her.

"Yeah. Never thought I'd see you two here." Yang commented with a nod to Jaune who'd walked up behind Pyrrha after stowing his weapons back in his pockets.

"Well, I guess this isn't exactly a good thing that we've run into you." Jaune pointed out with a nervous smile.

"Meh, what're they gonna do?" Yang asked with a shrug. "It's not like either of us are surrendering. They can't just choose a winner. The crowd would hate it."

"You've been to see things like this haven't you?" Blake asked condescendingly.

"A couple times, but it was all business. I didn't care much for it then, and definitely not now." Yang explained quickly her hands up, surrendering to her teammate.

"Have either of you heard from the rest of our team?" Pyrrha asked, hoping there was news about the other two even though she wasn't too worried since Ren was a formidable enemy even during practice.

"Sorry, no." Blake shook her head. "Have you heard about Ruby or Weiss at all?"

"Nadda." Jaune answered with a sigh. "Let's get back in our room. Someone could be along any minute."

"What's the fun in that?" Yang laughed sardonically as she followed her two friends back to their starting point. Jaune went back to staring at the bars while Pyrrha kept watch with Blake and Yang.

"What's he doing back there anyway?" Yang asked after five minutes of boredom. "Finding a way out?"

"Probably. Something along those lines anyway." Pyrrha said with a shrug. Even she had trouble understanding Jaune's intentions, and she was closer to Jaune than anyone else at this point.

"Not just a way out." Jaune said quietly as he knelt to inspect the small groves on the floor. He started fiddling with one of them and then stood with a smile. "An ace in the hole."

"We now have three teams left! Two seem to have teemed up, so we may just have an interesting fight ahead!" The announcer said to the audience who cheered in approval.

"Well, let's get this done with." Pyrrha sighed, using her spear to push herself up to a standing position. "Just so we're clear, we have no intentions of fighting you two."

Yang nodded grimly and Blake walked out, leading the rest of them along. "I'd never harm my friends." Yang said before activating her weapons to the cheers of those above her.


	8. Slaughterdome Deathmatch: Chapter 8

"Welcome to the final match!"

The crowd literally exploded, sending wave after wave of sonic torment to Weiss's head as she sat beside Ruby in their small cage.

"So… the last one, huh?" Ruby commented, staring across at where the bars would move out of the way once the round was ready to start.

Weiss remained silent, remembering Ruby's words to her hours ago when they would've been killed if it weren't for sheer dumb luck.

 _I have a feeling that luck wont last very long._ The thought repeated over again in Weiss's head. _I need to focus. Fight harder, be flawless._

"Hey, we'll be fine." Ruby nudged Weiss's shoulder, getting her to snap out of her thoughts.

"We can't afford to make mistakes." Weiss stated simply.

"We wont." Ruby replied in an almost mocking tone that grated against Weiss's nerves.

Weiss took a moment to force her frustration down before she responded. She didn't want to fight with Ruby. "I'm… just afraid."

"So am I." Ruby admitted. She slowly leaned sideways until her head was resting on Weiss's shoulder. "I just wish we could stay like this forever."

Weiss smiled at how delicious the thought was to her, but even the sweet dream couldn't erase the sour taste of reality.

"Don't be mad, okay?" Weiss said, her voice smaller than it usually was.

Ruby's attention snapped onto Weiss like her weapon's scope on a target. Weiss had never sounded so afraid before. She realized her girlfriend was waiting for a reply. "Okay."

"I want you to stay in here." Weiss said quickly. The words seemed to echo in the small space for a moment before disappearing and leaving only the silence behind.

"Only if you do too." Ruby replied, her tone even as it always was when she wanted something.

Weiss sighed, realizing her mistake far too late. _I'll skip the argument, thank you._ "You win. As always."

"Yup." Ruby laughed slightly.

The grinding noise of the bars starting to move brought the girls back to the sharp attention that always preceded battle.

"Ready?" Ruby asked, not waiting to draw Jaune's sword for the final fight.

"No, but I don't think they'll wait." Weiss replied with what little wit she had left.

"Nope." Ruby stepped forward out of the small crack that had appeared in front of them, Weiss following close behind.

* * *

The area was exactly the same as it had been for the first round. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The entrances were evenly spaced around the ring. Eight small black ovals. Five of which that slowly revealed their occupants.

"Ruby!" Ruby heard her sister's voice as she turned to look at the opening beside her. She noticed her sister followed by three other's she feared she'd never see again.

"Yang!" Ruby squealed excitedly.

A scream ripped through the air and Ruby whipped her head around. She watched as a shimmering blade fell through the air, dismembering a man as his partner looked on in horror at his adversary before being beheaded himself with the same curving swing.

The strangely dressed man finished his elegant combo by decapitating the dismembered man before he passed out from his severe blood loss. His visor on his head was a solid plate of silver with an etching in the pattern of a grimm making his head look like the hero in some hard fought battle.

Nearby, Cardin watched until the second man's head hit the ground and the body collapsed. His common sense kicked in and told him to run in the opposite direction which was straight to team RWBY.

He let out a yell as he tore down the middle of the arena, the single man with the shining blade chasing him and his partner, flying over the ground as if he wasn't even touching it. Cardin and Dove dodged the man's attacks as Nora and Ren joined their teammates.

"Trade em up." Yang said, passing Ruby and Weiss their weapons. Everyone quickly handed their weapons back to the rightful owners. They watched as the man chased Cardin, attacking each time he was in range. Cardin had a sword in his hand and tried to block an attack that was aimed at his leg.

Ruby realized a millisecond later the mistake he'd made. The shimmering weapon sliced through Cardin's weapon as if it wasn't there, and struck his leg just enough to send him tumbling to the ground.

Shockingly, his weapon remained intact as if it hadn't even been touched.

"We need to help him!" Jaune said, starting forward, his team close behind.

"Wait, I heard about that type of weapon before. Give me three seconds." Weiss said, her face determined. Ruby felt the pull on her shared pool of aura as Weiss materialized a large glyph, just hesitating to make it concrete and visible.

The seconds ticked by, Cardin's assailant seeming to only have eyes for him as he slowly approached, raising his sword, ready to plunge it down into Cardin's skull.

Weiss activated the glyph as the sword rushed towards Cardin, biting solidly into the glyph and sticking. Cardin scuttled out from under the white force field and started his limping jog to meet JNPR as they went to deliver his mace back.

"Thought so." Weiss smiled to Ruby.

It took Ruby a second but she realized what Weiss meant.

"He can't go through the glyphs, but he can go through our weapons if he wants to?" Ruby smiled at how simple, yet exclusive the remedy to the man's aura was. "Blake, Yang, keep an eye out for others coming from the other cages. Weiss, Ice Flower six!"

"Sure." Yang nodded.

"Definitely." Blake attached her bow to her weapon and went off with Yang as Ruby turned back to Weiss to face off with the man who's attention was now focused on them.

Weiss took a single step forward, and the man suddenly zoomed towards them at amazing speed. Weiss smiled and ran forward with Ruby keeping an eye from a longer range.

The two met in the exact middle of the arena, blades clashing as he tried many slashing attacks only to be rebuffed by Weiss's glyphs and four stabbing counterattacks for each of his slashes.

Weiss smiled as she created opening after opening, but somehow seemed to be failing to hit every time as if time slowed just enough for her assailant to be able to defend.

"OVER THERE!" Ruby yelled to Blake and Yang, pointing to a shadow in one of the doorways, a hand just visible as the air rippled around it.

Weiss felt herself slow considerably for a split second and just barely had enough time to drop and roll out of the way of a brutal slash. It just caught a section of her hair and sent it to the ground before embedding itself deep into the soft soil.

Weiss smiled for a split second before the man picked the weapon out of the ground as if it weren't stuck to begin with. Her face fell back to it's calmly focused state as she readied herself for round two.

"Come on, dance with me!" A distorted voice laughed menacingly out of the mask in front of her, the pieces of the etched grimm seeming to glow reddish in the fading light of the arena.

* * *

The hand in the doorway disappeared as Blake used her semblance to zip in and out after taking a look.

"Only one." She informed Yang who nodded before aiming her gauntlet at the entrance.

"That's all it'll take." Yang said with a grin as she fired the round into the room.

The red ball of the dust flew towards the entrance at amazing speed but fizzled out before it made contact with anything to explode. Yang had never had a dud before and it mystified her since it was almost impossible to get a dud for a dust shell.

"That's new." Yang commented.

The figure inside the room slowly emerged. He was dressed in a robe that hung to the floor and sported a large hood that covered his face entirely. No weapon was visible under the folds of the cloak but Yang wasn't going to bet her life on it.

"Bumblebee four." Yang said as she flared her aura and sent another round of dust at their opponent's feet.

The person simply raised a hand, once again making the shining red ball of fire hit dirt as nothing more than a spent cartridge.

The Blake beside Yang dissolved just as Blake swung her weapon at the cloaked person's back. The person seemed to have noticed just as Blake was about to connect.

Blake felt herself slow to a crawl as her weapon passed harmlessly by the person's head. She knew she'd heard of a semblance like that but she didn't think it was real. She knew there was only one way to prove it and swiped her weapon in the opposite direction with no warning as she reached her hand below the blade.

Once again, the person dodged, but this time her hand found purchase on the hood. She ripped it down, tearing a piece of the cloak off the person's body to reveal light weight body armour beneath. The person's head had a silver mask with a carving almost completely distorting it's surface.

Blake quickly jumped back as the man stood back in his normal tall stance, not bothering with his clothes as the remaining part of his cloak fell to the ground.

"Where did you guys even come from?" Yang asked, thinking of her non-existent armour as she looked over the sturdy suit.

The man didn't respond, but instead drew a pair of long knives from his forearms. They were odd looking triangles with thin cylindrical handles that ended in a loop. They looked fairly unintimidating, but it seemed there was something else that made these weapons more deadly than they seemed.

The man launched forward, and Yang dodged. Normally she would have had more than enough time to get out of the way, but for one reason or another, she was barely keeping up with the man's attacks.

 _He can't have a speed semblance like Ruby, right?_ She asked herself as Blake danced around, trying to get a hit in while taking the man's attention off Yang so she could dodge.

"Bumblebee seven!" Blake yelled as the man turned and destroyed yet another of Blake's clones.

Yang flared her aura as high as it would go, turning the dirt below her feet to glass as the shock wave echoed like a sonic boom through the arena. In the distance, Weiss's quarry barely managed to dodge Ruby's sweeping scythe as Weiss switched back to instead provide support to the close combat specialist. Farther than them, teams JNPR and CRDL were engaging a massive man that appeared at least 10 feet tall and built like a boulder.

Yang's enemy made a strangled sound as part of his arm's armour was melted from being slightly too close to her as her aura burst out. She felt the few scratches she'd accumulated heal instantly and her strength quadruple as her agility returned suddenly.

She didn't hesitate to send her fist flying at the man in front of her who barely blocked the gauntlets crushing velocity, sending one of his knives out of his hand and onto the ground feet away. He blocked Yang's tireless combo with his arms as he tried in vain to stop the brutal onslaught. Blake was just getting situated to attack when he seemed to get his control back. Yang and Blake both snapped into slow motion for a split second as he swiped weakly at Yang's neck and dodged out of the way. He moved to the wall and stopped leaning against it as a burst of Yang's blood flew toward Blake in slow motion.

Just as amazing as it was to see drops of blood as if gravity was non existent, Yang's healing ability pulled her throat closed and cauterized the resulting wound until the scab burned away, leaving a faint scar in only a little under a second.

Speed seemed to snap back again as the man slumped lower on the wall. Blake caught Yang and spun her into yet another of their practiced attack patterns.

A screaming caught their attention as Cardin flew past them and hit the wall, falling to the ground, dazed. Both Yang and Blake looked in the opposite direction to see the massive man in the same uniform as the other two opponents, holding what looked like two double ended hammers roar and pound his weapons into Jaune and Pyrrha who hid behind their shields, saving their teammates from the rain of deadly blows.

Yang looked back to their opponent to find him gone from his spot as if he'd vanished in the second they'd looked away.

"Let's go." Blake said, pointing to JNPR as a heavy hit sent Jaune stumbling and a second hit was barely avoided as Ren stabbed and shot him with his weapons to no effect.

Yang nodded and raced behind Blake to the raging hulk. The man's hammers were smashing the ground furiously as Jaune continued to stumble and roll out of the way. Nora was supporting Pyrrha as she used her aura to keep the hammers from crushing Jaune. Ren was out of breath when Yang raced up, already having told Blake her plan. The other members of CRDL were hovering out of range, trying to find an opening to attack, but getting thrown back before they could do anything serious.

"Move!" Yang yelled. Ren barely had time to dive out of the way as Yang ran through where he'd been standing, her feet falling with the same force as the man's hammers. "Suck on this!"

Yang screamed as she planted her feet in a crouch right beside the man who turned toward her, his hammer already swinging at her head. The attack never made it.

Yang used all her strength to jump, using her aura to boost her strength to multiple times that of a normal human and using her gauntlet's dust to boost her velocity as she sunk a building-breaking punch into the heavy armour on the underside of the man's chin.

The man's arms flew out to his sides at the severe impact of the small fist and stumbled backwards a few steps just as Blake jumped in, kicking him even further off balance as she used his chest like a launch pad to land back beside Yang who was gathering her aura and preparing for another assault with more than one punch.

"There!" Jaune yelled as the man started collapsing. Nora dropped Pyrrha and fired her explosive weapon to keep the opening Jaune had spotted. The explosive made large black scuff marks appear on the shining black of the man's plate mail.

Pyrrha had regained her footing and threw her spear into the small opening but the weapon never made it as it seemed to suddenly freeze part way through the air. Yang looked around to find hers and Blake's quarry hiding in a corner of an empty starting point where he could see both the battle with Ruby and Weiss, and the war with the tank of a man wielding two large hammers.

"Fuck!" Yang exploded, letting loose a blast of her aura at the man before her. Even the fireball of her aura wasn't immune to whatever that weird effect the man's semblance was.

"Nora, Ren! Go!" Jaune ordered, rushing at the tank and slicing uselessly at his leg to draw his attention again. "Dove, Russel, back me up. Sky, get Cardin and help them!

Ren and Nora rushed past to attack the newly returned combatant just as Cardin joined them.

"Go help them!" Pyrrha ordered a second time, firing shots to distract the heavily armored man who was now pounding Jaune's shield with enthusiasm.

Cardin merely grunted and hurried off after Nora with his teammate on his heels. Yang readied herself as the man swiped at Jaune sending him flying to land out of his reach.

"My turn, big boy." Yang laughed flirtatiously before charging to meet the man part way. She aimed her punch at the man's weapon as it came smashing towards her. Her fist recoiled as the hammer flew away. A perfect stalemate.

Yang repeated the move a few times, while dodging other blows and landing her own on the joints of the armour, denting it and occasionally making it grind back into shape as it moved, weakening it.

Blake knew Yang was approaching her limit and was waiting for the right time to jump in when Pyrrha beat her to it. The spear wielding girl jumped in and stabbed at the man's leg where Yang had damaged the armour. The man let out a short yell as Pyrrha ripped her spear out of the man's limb and stabbed it back in twice before he spun. Pyrrha let the hammer bounce uselessly off her shield without the help of her aura before using the shield's edge to swipe at his already weakened leg.

The man grunted as he hit the ground. Yang had circled around him and was in the perfect position as she used the last of her built up aura in a punch that made his silvery helmet splinter as a shock wave kicked up dust from the ground around his head.

The man let out a roar as he swiped his hammer, catching Blake just as she wrapped her arms around Yang to protect her. The two collided with Pyrrha as they flew through the air and landed in separate heaps ten feet away.

Yang looked up to see the man grunting as he rolled to his stomach. She quickly looked to find Blake flat on her back coughing violently for a few seconds before slowly reaching to her head.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked as she moved to kneel beside her teammate. Their opponent was still on his hands and knees recovering, so she knew she had only moments before the fight continued.

"Yeah. Couple of broken ribs." Blake got up and winced. "Even aura doesn't help completely."

The massive tank of a man had somehow snuck up on them and was bringing his hammers down on the three girls when a massive thud sounded and dirt exploded sending all three of them back to the ground.

Coughing, they regained their footing, ready to continue the fight only to find the fight continuing without them.

Standing tall with his sword and shield, Jaune slashed powerfully at the man's armour, sending loud crashing sounds echoing throughout the arena as he left deep dents and occasionally tears in his opponent's armour. The two hunters from team CRDL assisting where they could, but relying on Jaune for defense.

"Wait." Pyrrha held her arm out in front of Yang as she started forward to rejoin the fight. "Rest for now, we'll just be in the way. And I think we'll all want to see this."


	9. Slaughterdome Deathmatch: Chapter 9

**A/N:**

 **I'm so sorry for not updating this (or anything for that matter) for so long. I'll keep my explanation of my absence brief: laptop warranty, pile of work, the big brother and fat cousin to that pile, new jobs, and general life.**

 **If any of that didn't make sense, don't worry. I'll be updating everything at least once before Friday, and will also be posting a new story that I started while my hard drive was on vacation.**

 **I have a handful of the next chapters almost ready, so I'll most likely be posting more this week. Until then, Enjoy!**

* * *

The sound of grinding metal ripped through the arena as Ruby spun her scythe around her body and her assailants, forcing him to take a more defensive approach. Her speed and skill with the odd weapon was no match for his simplistic swipes that Weiss was blocking easily. The real question was how long they'd be able to continue with this stalemate.

Before long, Ruby could feel that their aura would fall far enough from the extensive use and make them easy targets. Before that happened, she'd need to win.

"Tag out!" Ruby called behind her, giving one last heavy attack before jumping back out of range of the phantom sword as it swished harmlessly past her.

Weiss rushed in, using her newfound speed to assist in her quick stabbing attacks. She dodged the weapon as Ruby reloaded, and used one of her valuable dust cartridges to make a powerful stab superheat the armour as the red fire dust coated it and set it ablaze.

Weiss jumped back as the sword once again missed. The man pulled a knife out of his sleeve and threw it, Weiss barely able to get a glyph up to block it before it landed in her head.

Ruby yelled as she ran past, knocking Weiss over and making her lose her concentration on the glyph.

Ruby grabbed the knife just as it started to fall and threw it at the man who deflected the projectile with his blade. Ruby was already charging with her blade leveled as he swung his blade back. Ruby dodged his attack by a hair and landed to the side as Weiss got back to her feet.

Ruby screamed loudly as she used her propellant to boost herself to impossible speed as she and the assailant rushed past each other, two horizontal flashes appeared, one bright silver and the other a ghostly black as the sword and scythe moved faster than the eye could follow through the air.

Both Ruby and the man came to a stop with several feet separating their backs. Ruby ejected the clip of her weapon and replaced it at her hip where she drew her last shell and placed it in her weapon's chamber while taking the used casing out. Her assailant stood stock still for several moments before he slowly dropped his weapon.

Weiss watched as a red puddle formed around his feet before it soaked into the dirt. He dropped to his knees and finally fell flat beside his weapon as his aura failed to heal the massive slash that had sliced through his armour as if it were newspaper.

Ruby didn't even look at the man as she turned to walk back to Weiss who was still in shock by the sudden end of the fight.

"What was that?" Weiss couldn't help herself. She needed to know what Ruby'd done since she knew Ruby hadn't used anything more than her own semblance for her final attack.

Ruby smiled and tossed the empty shell over her shoulder as she passed Weiss, on her way to the two ongoing battles on the other side of the arena.

Weiss caught the shell and smiled as she saw the remains of burnt lipstick curving around the outside.

"Turns out you were right. That did make it lucky." Ruby smiled before nodding her head toward the battle. "What do you think? Hammers or ninja?

"Definitely hammers." Weiss answered as she watched the hulking man bring his fist down on Jaune's shield where it deflected to the side and hit the ground with an explosion of dirt.

The couple ran towards their target and stopped when they spotted Pyrrha waving from the far side of the man telling them not to attack. Instead they changed course, skirting around the berserking man and reaching their teammates on the far side.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked quickly. She watched as blow after brutal blow rained down on Jaune alone who seemed to be easily fending off the attacks but not countering even though he had the openings. The larger man's armour had been torn open in several places and dents covered most of the the man's ligaments.

"Jaune almost activated his semblance." Pyrrha stated simply watching the battle closely. Weiss's thoughts pointed out the slight glow around Jaune's body that flared slightly brighter every time he took a hit on his shield.

"Well, let's go get ninja then." Ruby said as she turned away. Yang and Blake nodded as they along with Weiss followed their team leader to the fight raging near the perimeter where Cardin looked badly cut and Nora and Ren seemed to be only able to stay on the defensive. Sky seemed to be out cold and slumped against the nearby wall.

"The cavalry has arrived!" Ruby announced, jumping into the fray past Nora. Her scythe barely missed the man as he moved impossibly fast. The other hunters stepped back as Ruby used her semblance to push her scythe faster and faster until it was whistling through the air even with the odd time slowing that the enemy was capable of.

Weiss used her glyphs to block the man's movements, boxing him into an awkward game of dodge the scythe. He swore and Weiss felt his aura explode, causing everything from her thoughts to her ability to summon glyphs greatly slow from the effect of the field.

Even Ruby wasn't immune and was soon tossed back as he kicked her hard in the head, sending her flying.

"Ahhh!" Weiss screamed, her vision flashing red as her rage at the man reached danger point. She raced forward, temporarily free from his time controlling grip. She ignored the rapier at her side, knowing full well that her fist was all she'd need.

Then time stopped again. Weiss's fist was a mere inch from his silvery mask and she could've sworn he was smiling underneath it as he elbowed her in the face, breaking her old scar open and sending a small stream of blood over her eye.

"You lose." He whispered in her ear as he drew another knife and raised it to her throat.

A single loud echoing bang rang out along with the sound of a powerful gust of wind as the man's head snapped sideways, an explosion of blood flying through the air as the fifty caliber round tore through armour and bone, turning his brain to liquid before punching an exit hole on the opposite side of the helmet.

"Not yet." Ruby said grimly with a ghost of a smile on her lips as she stayed still, holding her scythe in it's sniper form aimed at where the man's head had been.

Everyone was amazed with Ruby's ability to overcome the effects of the time slowing. Ren, Nora and Cardin all nodded before leaving to surround the last remaining opponent. Yang and Blake simply wondered why they'd bothered to come since they hadn't been of any help in the relatively short fight.

"Care to explain?" Yang asked as Ruby got to her feet. She tossed a shell at Yang who caught it and looked at the black band around the base with confusion.

"Prototype dust." Weiss said, following Ruby back to watch and potentially help in Jaune's battle.

Jaune grunted as a particularly heavy blow knocked his arm around. He felt rather than saw Pyrrha run up beside him to block the second hammer. It slammed down with full force, sending Pyrrha tumbling back out of the fight. Jaune felt his rage explode like flicking a light switch. He swung his shield up and blocked the hammer with such force it flew from his opponent's hand. He blocked the other hammer as well, willing the same force to help him rebound the hammer that was hitting at an odd angle.

To his surprise, it worked, the other hammer pulled his assailant's hand up and away, and he knew before he swung his sword that all the remaining energy he felt pulsing through his veins was moving up to the very tip of his sword as he swung it in a heavy diagonal slash.

He watched in amazement as the sword literally melted through the massive armour plate on his opponent's chest like he'd popped a water balloon and sunk deep into his chest as it continued on its path to come to a stop at his side.

He realized he was panting like he'd just sprinted several miles and looked up at the emotionless, cracked mask of his opponent. The energy snapped back into place and he swung his sword directly skyward, turning as he did so to bring the sword around to face his teammates.

The blade was completely clean, shining as if it were recently polished. He replaced it and his shield at his hip before he turned to inspect his handiwork.

Pyrrha tackled him in a hug that he returned while he looked at the two deep cuts that made a large red X on the man he'd fought for what felt like a short eternity.

An explosion rang out, and Cardin collapsed on the ground near Yang, crawling as he lost blood from a large leg wound while more shots rang out. Jaune acted on instinct and had his shield up as two shocks indicated the blocked bullets. A quick glance around told him the others had expected the same result and were ready to block any more rounds should they come. Luckily nobody had been hit critically.

"Let's get out of here." Jaune announced to the group.

"How?" Nora asked in confusion. "We're trapped, remember?"

"He found a way." Yang said with a smirk as she deflected a round with her gauntlet. "And if it doesn't work, we'll use my plan."

Weiss exchanged a glance with Ruby and knew what she was thinking without the thought that came next. _Please let Jaune's way out work._

The group followed Jaune back to their starting point as those with quicker reflexes and better shielding kept the barrage of heavy sniper rounds from killing their teammates. They gathered up the fallen members of CRDL as they went. Cardin had already started focusing on healing his leg as he was carried out of the arena, helped by a disoriented Sky.

After sprinting clear across the arena, everyone was out of breath as they dodged inside the door and hid behind the walls on either side of the entrance. Jaune had gone straight to the back, his shield hung open on his back as he crouched to work with the base of the bars an occasional round would hit his shield but was already too weak to do more than bounce off and embed itself in the ceiling.

"Yang. Your turn." Jaune said, spinning and moving to guard Yang as she jumped back to her feet and jogged over the small space.

"What's up?" She asked looking at the unmarked metal on the floor.

"Heat that section there." He pointed and Yang finally understood his plan.

"Not a bad idea." She muttered, drawing up her already exhausted aura to heat the small section. It wouldn't take much.

She placed her hand against the metal, but stopped as a sudden thought occurred to her.

"Weiss! You still have an ice round?" She asked as Weiss spun the cylinder of her weapon.

"Here." She tossed the cartridge to Yang who crushed the round and dropped the dust on the surface. Within seconds, the metal began to frost up.

Yang punched the floor, unleashing her aura in the process and shattering the metal with a loud crack.

"Nora, you're up!" Jaune said, stepping away to give Nora more room.

She unfolded her weapon and spun it's face into the bars that vibrated violently from the impact, cracking through the thin metal still keeping them in place at the base of the wall.

Ren and Ruby started pulling the bars aside, an opening just big enough for them to squeeze through leading to a dim hallway on the other side.

"They probably know what we're doing. We have to get out of here quick." Weiss stated as she followed Ruby through the hole.

"Don't think I'd care to stick around." Blake responded earning her a laugh from Nora.

"Any idea which way is out?" Jaune asked looking both ways down the large curved corridor, not seeing any sign of an exit.

"How about up?" Dove asked looking at the ceiling.

Above them, there was a small access hatch that appeared to have been forgotten long ago by the grimy appearance that made it blend almost perfectly with the dirty walls.

The group nodded and Jaune knelt as Pyrrha climbed up on his shoulders to reach the handle. After several moments of noisy grinding and swearing grunts as Pyrrha turned the handle, the hatch popped open with a loud hiss as ancient air rushed out into the corridor.

Pyrrha climbed up and disappeared as Ren boosted Nora into an arc to fly up into the black hole. Blake mirrored Ren with her own partner before using her weapon's ribbon as a rope to pull herself up. Ren followed her using her ribbon as well. Jaune felt his shield getting pulled and hung on as Pyrrha's aura pulled him up through the hole as he dangled from the flat metal attached to his arm.

Ruby and Weiss moved to stand below the hatch and used a single glyph as an elevator to push themselves up through the opening before providing one for team CRDL to follow. On the other side of the ceiling, a dimly lit cave of I-beams and wiring ran around under the dust that had settled. It was thick, meaning that the place wasn't used often.

The group jogged in the direction they hoped the exit lay. After fifteen minutes they came to another trap door. Weiss opened it and looked down into the hall.

"There's a door." She said as Ruby helped her back into their hideout.

"Might as well try it." Ren said with a shrug as he stepped past them and dropped down. "No sign of security."

The others followed him as he opened the doors. One long hallway with a door at the opposite end stood before them. This hall was much cleaner than the last and they ended up leaving footprints of dust and dirt as they made their way down the white tunnel.

Jaune pushed another set of doors open and froze. In front of him stood a room full of soldiers all pointing their guns at them. Weiss stepped slightly forward from the row as she prepared a massive glyph to cover them temporarily.

The guards held their fire as they received instructions. The small noises coming from their helmets told Weiss there was obviously a camera somewhere that could see them.

"One chance." A guard yelled from the middle of the crowd. "Drop all your weapons and we'll make this quick!"

"Fat chance!" Yang shot back, a laugh in her voice. "Drop your weapons and I might consider crushing your skull before I break every other bone in your body!"

The soldiers yelled as they opened fire. Weiss's glyph popped into existence stopping the bullets in mid air as she focused. The bullets remained exactly where they'd hit, the glyph vibrating slightly.

Ruby could feel the drain on her aura as Weiss struggled to keep the shield up. A few seconds passed before the soldiers stopped their pointless shooting. A few started to reload, but Weiss had reached her limit. She dropped the glyph making the bullets fly in the opposite direction they'd come at the exact same speed.

The front row literally exploded in red as hundreds of bullets hit everywhere. The second row fell a second later as the last of the bullets were absorbed into their bodies.

The third row stepped up, raising their weapons as the two teams hid behind Jaune and Pyrrha who were the only shield bearers in the group. Everyone closed their eyes and braced themselves as the sounds of bullets being fired exploded around them.

After several moments, Jaune opened his eyes and looked behind him at his team, CRDL and RWBY. Everyone was still alive, and Weiss was definitely not protecting them. He turned forward again and looked over his shield.

A single man with a generic mask of a face stood with his two guns pointed down as he looked over the six rows of dead soldiers in front of him, and then his gaze shifted up to the back corner where a security camera hung from the remains of a wire.

"Uh, thanks?" Jaune looked questioningly at Pyrrha who shrugged and lowered her shield slightly.

"Jaune Arc?" He asked, his mask expressing the question with a theatrical tilt.

"Yeah?" Jaune replied his question remaining unanswered.

"Ruby Rose?" He asked again, looking over the group.

Ruby stepped out from her place partially behind Yang and nodded.

"Cardin Winchester?" He received a wave from the back of the group as response.

Everyone exchanged glances as they waited to find out who they were speaking to.

"I've got them…. Yes, of course… I'll inform them…. Over and out." The man spoke into a ear-piece that disappeared beneath his mask as he turned and opened the door at the far side of the room. He noticed as he exited that nobody was following him so he turned back. "If you wish to survive the next hour, I would suggest you follow me posthaste."


	10. A Family Affair: Chapter 10

The helicopter ride was bumpy and cramped, but nobody was complaining. After all, it was much better than remaining back at the arena they'd just escaped thanks to the soldiers' help. And it was lucky that team CRDL had chosen to assist the soldiers who were heading off to defend a possible terrorist target.

"So where are we going?" Yang asked impatiently as she tried to get comfortable with Blake almost sitting on her lap.

The pilot ignored her as he had the past fifty times she'd asked and continued to man the controls.

As the minutes dragged on, the city scape below them slowly changed from residential to skyscrapers that passed by so close it was a wonder that they were still in the air.

They passed the group of buildings and lurched as the helicopter turned sharply to it's new heading: Atlas Military Academy.

"Why are we going there?" Nora asked, distinctly remembering her previous visit hadn't been all too pleasant.

The pilot remained silent as ever as the building slowly came closer.

The small landing pads to the main building were mostly empty, but the helicopter flew by, ignoring them and instead heading to a platform on the side of the tallest tower.

The craft landed as the doors to the cabin hissed open, allowing the two teams to spill out onto the ground. They looked around as the aircraft's engine revved and it took off again. The group turned as the lone door to the building opened. Stepping out of the shadow of the doorway and into the bright mid-morning sun, Ozpin stood sipping his coffee.

"Welcome to Atlas Academy." He said with earnesty as he turned and made his way back into the building. The teams followed him, wondering what exactly had happened while they were trapped in the arena. As if reading their questions out of the air, he continued. "General Ironwood is currently indisposed with a massive terrorist movement within Atlas, and the resulting invasion of grimm. As for my reason for being here, I came across a bit of information that may be useful to you. Naturally I couldn't let you stay shut up in that dusty old arena."

"You knew we were there?" Weiss asked, accusation heavy in her voice.

"I made that discovery relatively recently." Ozpin responded. "I want to express my disappointment with the Atlas administration and I'd hoped you might join me."

The group fell silent as Ozpin led them up flights upon flights of stairs. When they finally reached the top floor, they were wondering the reason he'd taken them to the top of the tallest tower in the place, but knew better than to ask. He never did anything without reason, it seemed. He led them down a corridor, turning twice as they passed several offices.

"I would appreciate it if you remained quiet." Ozpin instructed the group as he reached for the handle to a massive oak door that looked heavier than any other they'd passed.

He paused at the last moment, knocking twice before settling his hand back on the handle. A tired sounding voice answered with a "come in."

Ozpin twisted the handle and opened the door to a disgruntled looking General Ironwood with stacks upon stacks of paper surrounding him on every surface. The desks around the edge of the room were hidden behind stacks that started on the floor and reached alarmingly high towards the vaulted ceiling and his desk wasn't much better with an equal amount making it look like it was twice it's actual size. He turned the dial on a hissing radio, cutting off the voices trading field reports.

"Oh, it's you." He grunted as he looked at a stack of paper and then tossed it into his fireplace that was already full of paper as it burned brightly, sending ash up the stone chimney.

"I believe you told me that you'd have an explanation for the events involving my teams?" Ozpin said in his normal voice, not unkind but definitely disappointed.

"I guess I did." He grunted again looking at a few papers before tossing yet another stack of paper into his fireplace.

A loud sliding noise erupted as a stack that stretched twice Ruby's height toppled over, taking two smaller stacks with it.

"Great!" The general cheered sarcastically as he dropped a stack of paper on his already overflowing desk and moved around it, ignoring the others in the room as he tried to salvage some part of the stack before everything mixed together. "And those were the section four's too."

Ozpin cleared his throat, getting the man's attention. He then swept his hand around to point out their other people in the room.

"If you want revenge, kill me now. That way I won't have to do all this paper work." He said monotonously to Ruby before turning his gaze to Jaune and then turning back to his desk, giving up on the mess of papers as a bad job.

"I did not bring them here for that reason, although I will admit that they do have every right to blame you for this indiscretion." Ozpin stated. "I have brought them here, from what was supposed to be the break before the final round of the tournament to hear your story of why you sanctioned this mass execution."

"That is the question isn't it?." Ironwood grumbled as he sighed. "It starts about a month before Vale is attacked."

He launched into his story, explaining mostly for the benefit of those who hadn't worked at the government, about the political atmosphere surrounding the Atlas and Mystral regions.

"It has been a game of terrorism. Each side sending expendable spies to capture information that might give an edge in a cold war turning hot." He said in summary. "We had already captured countless terrorists, but the small facility we were keeping them in was getting full. Release was not an option for the fanatics that would most likely just go back to attacking us, so we decided on a plan of execution. That is where things get confusing."

He got up and walked over to a desk against the wall and reached over one stack of paper to pick up another much smaller one.

"I almost never read the countless forms that come through my office, having my secretary stamp them with my signature before sending them on. I had instructed her to send any of a questionable or urgent nature to my desk for my personal inspection. This form here never came to my desk and was stamped by Emerald. How this didn't raise any flags with her is beyond me." He turned the paper over to Ozpin who skimmed down to the meat of the document.

"Authorization for execution via public death-match." Ozpin stated before returning the paper that was placed back on the top of the stack.

"Right. Then there's the six hundred and some forms that are authorizations for arrests. Most of those seem to indicate civilians that can in one way or another be traced to Vale or Mystral. In some cases both." The general split the stack in half as he continued to flip through the files almost like he'd done it one too many times before. "What caught my attention was the one form that managed to make its way to my desk as a request for my top team that is currently on a mission to appear at the North Grimm Stadium. That's when Emerald conveniently quit as I got bombarded with all this when people realized they'd been watching actual executions."

"If you are telling us the truth, then Emerald is the one who would have a more extensive knowledge of this atrocity." Ozpin stated expectantly.

"I already tried. The home address was fake and phone number is non-existent. Hell, I don't even know if it is her real name!" Ironwood shook his head and finally gave up, relaxing back in his chair.

"We both know that there is more than one way to find someone in this world." Ozpin stated grimly.

"What the hell, I'm not going to talk to that _thing_!" Ironwood spat, a hint of fear masked below his tough exterior.

"No need. I've already been conversing with him." Ozpin stated matter of factly. "And I will assure you that Emerald is the name of your ex-secretary. Just as Neopolitan was the name of the one before. As it turns out, both have come into close contact with several key people. As of today, make it a priority to find Cinder Fall. I sent a list of her supporters to your scroll."

"Well then, are you done? I have a great deal of paper work to deal with." Ironwood grunted with a nod, pulling a pen from his desk and scribbling out a quick name and signature on a form he handed to Ozpin.

"Thank you for your time, General." Ozpin said, his voice tired as he sighed the last word.

The group followed Ozpin out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"Sir, um… what was that about?" Blake asked as he led them to an elevator.

"I wanted you to hear his explanation of the events as well. So that you could tell me what your conclusions are." The elevator dinged open and the group filed in, their thoughts going over the details of the encounter.

"I don't think he was lying." Ren spoke up first. Weiss and Blake nodded in agreement.

"I don't think so either." Ozpin confirmed. "What about his secretary?"

"There's three secretaries that go through his work. The papers get shuffled, and split between the three. There's no way… unless…" Weiss trailed off, looking to Pyrrha for confirmation.

"It wouldn't be easy, but… I guess it is possible." Pyrrha nodded, frowning at her thoughts.

"I'd like to know too guys!" Yang joked in the tense atmosphere.

"The papers are delivered daily to the ground floor. If the same secretary went to fetch them every day, she'd have time to sort the papers so she received the easy ones to deal with or in this case anything she didn't want the General to see." Weiss explained her thought.

Ozpin seemed to take the idea and mull it over for a few seconds as the hum of the elevator continued as the lights indicating their floor continued to drop.

"And the reason Ironwood got a single paper was…. Why would they keep all the papers away from him then let one slip through?" Blake asked.

"That would've been Glynda." Ozpin stated with a slight smile. "She applied to be one of the three secretaries on my recommendation. And I can't say whether I instructed her to know about every piece of paper that entered or left that office."

"So she found something and left it for Ironwood?" Nora asked, barely following the conversation, but not caring much either way.

"The General was going on vacation, so naturally his secretaries were given a day off. Glynda thought it was a good time to go through the work she'd been neglecting, and found that paper in the new work that would have been taken care of the next day." Ozpin explained.

"So it was his secretary. Emerald, right?" Ruby asked to nods from her team.

"Um, mind if I ask what this is all about?" Jaune asked, realizing there was something much bigger going on than he knew about. "Why would we be targets for some random person we've never met before?"

"I suppose your team has gone too far to back out at this point. Fine." Ozpin took a deep breath as the doors to the elevator opened to the ground floor. "Follow me, I'll explain everything over a barbecue."

* * *

"Girls!" A bearded man boomed as he answered the door to find his two nieces standing with their teams at the doorstep. "I thought you were supposed to be shipped back to wherever they put you!"

"I'll inform you of the details at a later time." Ozpin said, stepping around the corner. "Right now, we are in need of shelter and sustenance."

"Right!" Qrow boomed with a wave as he turned back into the house. "Barbecue'll be on in about an hour. Until then make yourselves at home!"

"Thanks Uncle!" Ruby called after him as she led the way into the small house.

The place was indeed small compared to the houses in Vale, but compared to the apartments and small bunk rooms most of them had been in for the last few months, it was massive. The main floor had a lone bedroom beside a living room and a kitchen. The backyard was large enough that they all ended up relaxing in chairs while they watched Qrow patiently tend the meat he'd placed on the grill.

"Right. Well, it's that time again, I'll leave the grilling to Yang." Qrow said, tossing his chef's smock to his neice. "And don't worry. She's a prodigy with the barbecue."

"Thanks!" Yang laughed going to tend the meat so as to live up to her uncle's praise.

Qrow disappeared into the house, heading to the cellar where he'd leave unnoticed from the outer entrance at the side of the house.

He was soon walking down the alley between two warehouses. He'd been following the interesting prospect of an ally for many months and knew from Ozpin showing up with his nieces and their friends that this was the start of the man's endgame.

"Big surprise seeing you again!" Roman called as he walked down the alley in the opposite direction. "You know it's getting a little creepy though. _Stalkerish_ wouldn't be pushing the board."

"I think it's time you made a decision." Qrow stated. "A war's starting and you don't wanna be on the wrong side."

"So you say, but all I know for sure is some chick is pulling my strings and forcing me to dance like some marionette." Roman said. "For all I know, you're testing my loyalty."

"No way to prove I'm not." Qrow nodded. He understood Roman's concerns a little too well from his time spent as an undercover police officer in his younger days. "It may be all the same to you, but I suggest you change puppeteers. We could use your skill set, though I daresay we'll get by without it."

He handed a small white envelope to Roman and gave a wave of his hand indicating he should open it. Roman unfolded the top and pulled out a small strip of paper.

"Read and remember." Qrow waited for Roman to look back up, then took the paper and set it ablaze with some dust. "Consider my offer. If you accept or are interested in specifics, go to that address tomorrow at noon. Hope to see ya there."

Roman nodded and continued walking past Qrow. _I wonder if he'll come._ Qrow thought as he continued to walk into the next street and back to his house.

He arrived to a comical sight of Yang flipping burgers across the yard onto plates with buns that had been laid out.

She spun the two spatula's and put them on the barbecue's bench. "Food's done!"

"Looking sharp!" Qrow laughed, making Yang jump as she spun to find her uncle right behind her.

"Holy son-of-a-" She spat before she realized who it was. "Don't do that!"

Qrow laughed at her startled reaction. "Sorry about that. Now let's eat before the meat gets too cold."

Everyone picked up a plate from the table and resumed their seats. After everyone except Nora ate their fill of the food that Qrow kept coming by adding the rest of the meat to the barbecue, Ozpin cut into the quiet conversations that were going on between most partners about what to do now that they'd escaped death more narrowly than ever before.

"Since you are all now well fed, I'd like you to follow me." He said, leading them back into the house to the trap door that led to the cellar.

Everyone climbed down the ladder and found themselves squeezed into a small room with shelves of food. Qrow climbed down behind them and squeezed his way through the group and passed Ozpin to where he seemed to have stockpiled several hundred pounds of potatoes.

"Are we having baked potatoes too?" Nora asked, realizing if everyone took a few back up, she'd have lots to eat.

"Maybe later." Qrow answered as he reached behind the bag. A quiet beep sounded as the single bulb went out above them. Then several rows of light popped into existence that seemed to come from behind the wood of the ceiling as the shelves folded in on themselves, opening to a large room that looked more like a military command center than the cellar it had replaced. "Welcome to the Crow's Nest."

The whole group was amazed at how well hidden the bunker was. As the team spread out to explore the thousands of gadgets, Weiss nudged Ruby.

"A bit ironic that the _Crow's Nest_ is _underground_ , isn't it?" She asked in a hushed voice. Unfortunately, Qrow heard her.

"I suppose that would be true if we were underground." Qrow replied with a smile. He pressed a button on a nearby keyboard and all the monitors changed to a view that seemed to be fifty feet above the roof of his house. Even the floor had gone transparent and appeared as if they were floating above his house.

"Okay, that's awesome." Jaune breathed as he estimated the amount of programming it had taken to get that single function to work. He watched a man with a briefcase walk down the street. The man looked both ways at a cross street and continued on. "How did you get real-time accuracy with the object tracking?"

"It's hooked up to a weather system on the roof that doubles as a radar. Everything is mapped with sonic echoes and infrared reflections, but that means color's are a bit degraded. I had a hell of a time setting up the color scheme to differentiate from grass and a ghillie suit." Qrow explained as he pointed out a small black box on the roof of his house far below.

"Now that we've been acquainted with our temporary base of operations, let's get down to business." Ozpin said, pressing the button to turn off the projection.

Over the next few minutes, Ozpin explained to JNPR the same way he'd explained to RWBY back at Beacon about how there was an old force that was once again growing in power along with updated details such as how the existence of Hollow Crystals had been confirmed by Ruby and Weiss detonating it and glassing a ten mile radius on the outskirts of Atlas territory. He then went into more detail about how Ironwood's secretary Emerald was certainly working for the same person as Torchwick, which didn't help much considering they still didn't know anything more about the leader.

"What about those grimm?" Ruby asked suddenly when it seemed Ozpin was ready to move on without saying much about the Grimm Sphere project.

"My information has not changed in that area." Ozpin stated. "Unless you have something to add?"

"This might take a while to explain." Weiss sighed, looking from Pyrrha to Jaune to Ruby and back to Ozpin. "There's a lot that happened right before we destroyed that massive nest."

Weiss launched into her explanation of the events that started in Atlas with Pyrrha and Jaune taking over occasionally as she explained how they found out Ruby's outpost had been getting supplies, but not getting all of them. Weiss kept talking as the hour dragged on, explaining how they'd found out about the White Fang having a hidden facility beside a grimm nest and how her and Ruby had found the small black crystal and taken it. Ruby explained how the grimm seemed to go crazy and escape. They skipped over their final fight to the part where they watched millions of grimm all head towards Atlas and decided to take the chance on whatever the small black crystal could do to damage the black army.

"And then you know the rest." Ruby said as she finally collapsed backwards in her chair, letting out a long sigh.

"Shit. And I thought my job was tough!" Yang whistled, looking at her sister with a new sense of respect burning in her eyes.

"That is interesting news." Ozpin nodded, thinking. "I suppose it's safe to assume that the device the crystal was powering was controlling the nest."

"But not always. There were a few grimm that wandered out every now and then." Ren interjected, remembering the comical sight of the baby beowolf chasing his commanding officer around a field.

"I believe that might have been a testing ground for an earlier version of the technology." Ozpin said. "The device used during the Beacon tournament was definitely portable, though it might have been smaller as well."

"Regardless. That's all we know for now." Qrow said, getting to his feet. "Sleeping bags are in the closet upstairs if you want them."

He left as Ozpin took a seat at a nearby computer and plugged his scroll in.

"Oh, yes. I have programmed replacement scrolls for each of you. They're in the drawer over there." He pointed to a drawer next to Pyrrha. "I left them unlocked so Jaune can add his own software should he choose."

"Cool." Jaune said, taking his scroll and booting it to find a nice little programming suite as one of the applications.

"Enjoy tomorrow and take the day off. We'll start on phase two the next day." Ozpin said unplugging his scroll and walking up the steps to the side entrance of the cellar.

"What do you want to do?" Ruby asked Weiss with a slight smile.

"I think I want to visit Winter." Weiss said honestly. For whatever reason, she couldn't help but want to see her adopted sister again.

"Sound's fun. We'll come too." Blake said, making Yang slightly frown as her grand plan suddenly fell apart.

"Fine, but we do have the whole day. How long can visiting a four year old take?" Yang said hopefully, planning the rest of the day out in her head.

"Long enough that we are not making it to a bar." Blake said aggressively, folding her arms before turning away and leaving back to the main floor.

"Well that's no fun." Yang frowned slightly at her girlfriend's attitude.

"After this is over, we're sending you to an AA meeting." Weiss sighed as Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Screw you too princess." Yang smiled evilly as she followed Blake up to the main room where they'd be sleeping.

"You guys go on ahead, I'm going to put some stuff on our scrolls." Jaune said with a wave as he took all eight scrolls and plugged them into the same computer.

"I'll keep you company." Pyrrha announced as Ren followed a yawning Nora up the stairs behind Weiss and Ruby.

"It'll be a while." Jaune warned as he loaded up the programming interface and started sending lines of code scrolling across the screen.

"That's fine." Pyrrha said sitting down beside him. "These chairs are nice."


	11. A Family Affair: Chapter 11

**AN: Sorry for the unintended hiatus, more in the next AN. Please enjoy!**

* * *

"No!" A tiny voice said from behind her door.

"It's okay, Kitty's here!" Yang responded cheerfully hoping Winter might open the door.

"No!" She said once again.

"Welp, no use arguing with her. While we're here we might as well say hi to the cook." Yang gave up, spinning on her heel to face the door on the other side of the hall.

Everyone was watching her sceptically as she walked up to the door and opened it. She leaned inside waving. "Hi Peter!" She called, much louder than she had to, before slamming the door shut and stepping back to the side of Winter's door that had the handle.

"Wha-" Ruby started but was cut off when Yang slapped her hand over her mouth and the others all stepped against the wall behind the blonde.

A click sounded quietly and the door eased open. Winter slowly crept out into the hall, looking in the other direction. She seemed to think the coast was clear and edged out into the hall.

"Gotcha!" Yang said as she stepped behind Winter into the doorway so she could keep the door open.

Winter spun and sprinted back into her room as Weiss walked into the room behind her.

"Can I ask you three to wait outside for a moment?" Weiss said, not turning to look at her team as she knew her voice must have sounded fearful.

"Sure thing." Ruby said, taking a step back and pulling her sister with her. The door swung closed quietly, a simple click sounding as it stopped in it's frame.

Weiss waited for a moment, hoping to give her adopted sister time to relax. It had been more than six months since she'd last seen the small girl, and she knew a lot could happen in that amount of time.

Weiss watched Winter watching her from her hiding spot under her bed. She knelt down, leaving enough space in front of her for Winter to come sit with her if she felt like it.

 _I guess I should start talking._ Weiss had never had to deal with young kids, but that didn't mean she was completely hopeless. "Hello Winter. It's been a long time since I saw you last."

Weiss waited but realized she hadn't exactly given the girl a reason to respond. She sighed before continuing.

"I used to live here when I was your age, but I dare say this room is much nicer than mine was." She said, looking at the number of dolls and stuffed animals that seemed to have grown exponentially since her last visit. "I also know what all those toys mean."

Weiss pulled the front of her dress down just far enough for the end of a large scar to peek out. Under the bed, Winter's eyes widened at the new development. Weiss placed the dress back to where she'd moved it from and waited. Slowly, Winter came out from under the bed. A small mark on her forehead near her temple immediately caught Weiss's attention.

"How about a trade? I'll show you my scars if you show me yours?" She offered, any smile she might've worn gone with her anger at her father barely suppressed behind her usual cold mask.

Winter hesitated. Weiss could tell she was curious but didn't want to show Weiss her own wounds.

"At the same time." Winter said finally. Weiss nodded. Both girls took off their clothing until they were down to their underwear. Winter gasped at the amazing amount of scarring covering Weiss's stomach and chest. There was one particularly large scar that ran from one shoulder to Weiss's opposite hip.

"Turn slowly for me." Weiss instructed, resuming her place on the carpet. Winter listened and slowly turned. Her back was covered in tiny nicks. Some of them were obviously months old, while others seemed as fresh as a couple days old. When Winter was facing directly away, she grabbed the girl's shoulder. "Stop. Stay facing that way for a second."

Weiss took her scroll out of her clothes quickly and quietly snapped a quick photo before returning the device. Weiss inspected the wounds closer to find that the new ones hadn't been cleaned properly.

"Can I see yours now?" Winter asked carefully. Weiss took note of how much her speech had improved since the last time she'd spoken with her. Now she spoke full sentences, though with the short vocabulary Weiss was familiar with from her life before Beacon.

"Of course." Weiss sat back, letting her arms drop to her sides. Winter turned and took in the front of Weiss again. "If you think this is something, you should look at my back."

Winter slowly walked around Weiss to her back. The whole visible surface was covered in so many tiny scars that it was almost impossible to tell the beginning of one from the end of the next. Some went deep and others shallow, but each one left a mark.

"Of course, I've gotten a few of these since I decided to become a huntress." Weiss explained as she pointed out several of her scars in turn. "Like this one here I received from an exploding helicopter, and this one was a practice session that almost went horribly wrong. This one here was from a giant suit of armour I fought in White Castle, though that one was completely my fault for activating it."

Weiss watched as Winter circled back to her front.

"How do you make him stop?" She asked, hope glowing in her eyes after seeing Weiss's damaged skin.

Weiss sighed. "The only way I found was to just not be there when he's crazy like that. But regardless, I'm going to get dressed and then clean your back before you put your dress back on."

Winter nodded in agreement as Weiss stood and slipped back into her combat uniform. One thing she liked about it was how easy it was to get into, or in some cases with Ruby, out of. She went to the attached bathroom and grabbed the white medical box that was already open on the counter before walking back to the room.

"This might sting a bit." Weiss warned before she dampened some cotton with the hydrogen peroxide. Winter merely nodded and looked away. Weiss did her best to clean the wounds quickly while still being thorough. The whole time, Winter didn't do more than hiss occasionally, keeping silent as she bore the stinging cleaner.

Weiss took a large piece of cotton and peeled the top layer off. She sprayed it with the instant bandage spray and smoothed it out against Winter's back.

"What's that?" Winter asked curiously as Weiss taped the corners with medical tape.

"It's a trick I learned at school." Weiss explained as she turned Winter to face her as she inspected her head region for injuries that required treatment. Luckily there were none. "You spray a thin piece of cotton with the instant bandage spray, then put it on your skin with tape. That way you can wear anything you want without being afraid of having it stain. Not to mention it helps the wounds heal better. Although aura does do a quicker and better job."

"That's smart." Winter said, picking up her dress and passing it to Weiss who helped her slip it over the bandage as she pulled it up.

"Um, are you guys dead in there?" Yang called from the other side of the door.

"Just give us a few seconds." Weiss called in response as she gathered up the medical kit and returned it to the bathroom.

"Um… Miss Weiss?" Winter asked suddenly shy as Weiss returned.

"Just Weiss is fine. We're sisters after all." Weiss smiled at the formality that had obviously been beaten into the girl since she'd left.

"Can we keep this a secret?" Winter asked, her large puppy dog eyes imploring.

"Of course, but I want you to tell me all about this type of thing from now on okay?" Weiss replied gravely.

Winter seemed to hesitate, but she nodded her agreement nevertheless.

"Good. Now let's let our friends in. They came all the way to see you after all." Weiss laughed a little, getting a small smile to come to her sister's face.

Winter walked over to the door. Her steps were already careful, measured as if someone was monitoring her every movement. _This never stops, does it?_ Weiss wondered while she forced her smile slightly larger as Winter opened the door for Ruby, Yang, and Blake.

* * *

The theater was packed. Winter had taken Blake and Yang to find the good seats while Ruby and Weiss stood in line to order snacks. Ruby hadn't asked what had gone on behind the closed door, but Weiss could tell she was trying not to be to invasive about it.

"It's okay, Ruby. You can ask." Weiss said with a sigh after she turned to see Ruby's eyes dart away yet again.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked tentatively. "It seemed like she wanted to keep it a secret."

"I love you dearly, but you can be dense sometimes." Weiss laughed as she took Ruby's hand in her own. "I'll never keep secrets from you. In my experience it's only led to problems. I've had enough of those to deal with lately, and so have you."

"You're right." Ruby agreed with a smile. "As long as you're okay with it, I'd like to know what happened when you kicked us out suddenly."

Weiss stepped up to the counter and ordered a box combo for everyone and paid before she turned back to her girlfriend while drawing out her scroll and showing it to Ruby.

"A picture is worth a thousand words, and every scar tells a story. Together they give a comprehensive list of transgressions." Weiss stated cryptically so that anyone in their vicinity wouldn't understand what she was talking about specifically.

Ruby whistled before pushing Weiss's hand away so she'd get rid of the image. "What's all that from?"

"I didn't ever tell you how I got all mine, did I?" Weiss asked taking a few boxes off the counter and stacking them in Ruby's arms. "I told you my family was never around much, so I mostly had to deal with the servants but that was only the second part of my life. The first part, I spent here. Since my father lives here I saw him at least weekly. To say the least, he's a violent drunk. And the stress of dealing with the White Fang didn't make a winning combination."

"Can we do anything about it?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Not really, but I'm not about to stand by and watch him do that to yet another of his daughters. Blood related or not, I won't stand for it." Weiss said as she gathered up the remaining boxes of snacks and led the way to the theater to find their sisters and Blake.

* * *

"So that was a thing." Yang sighed disappointedly as she led the way out of the theater. The movie had sounded like an action flick but ended up as a kid friendly romantic comedy. Not exactly her type of movie. But the rest of her team seemed to enjoy it enough so she shrugged it off like she did with everything else that wasn't her cup of tea. "What's next?"

"Well, we still have some time, how about we go get ice cream?" Ruby suggested, looking to Winter who was nodding and smiling at the suggestion as she munched on some left over licorice.

"You don't stop, do you?" Blake asked in amazement when Winter pulled at her arm that was carrying the extra bag of popcorn.

"Mom says if I don't eat I won't be pretty." Winter stated as if it were common knowledge. "I bet you eat lots!"

Blake blushed at the strangely formatted compliment. She hesitated on handing over the popcorn bag though. "I think she's been feeding you bad information."

"You have to eat, but everything in moderation. Fruits, vegetables, lots of milk, and a bit of meat." Ruby said earning her a laugh from Yang.

"You do realize milk doesn't actually make you taller, right?" Her sister laughed as she led the group.

"Yeah well, I haven't ever broken a bone in combat before. You?" Ruby shot back a challenge in her voice.

"Touche!" Yang surrendered.

"How do you laugh about getting hurt?" Winter asked the group making them all fall silent. After several moments of walking quietly in thought it was Blake who spoke up.

"I suppose it's just because we dealt with it in the past. It can't hurt us once the pain goes away, so we laugh at it to try to make the memory of it less powerful." It was apparent that Winter only understood a little of what Blake said.

"Basically, it hurt when we got hurt, but then we healed. But we keep our memories of how much it hurt, so we laugh at them to make it less painful whenever we remember it again." Yang summed up. Winter nodded in understanding before falling silent in her own thoughts.

"Speaking of which, I'd like to talk to you while the others get ice cream." Weiss informed Yang.

"What's this about?" Yang asked curiously.

"Wait and see. We're only a block away." Ruby suggested, pointing out the massive ice cream cone growing larger in the sky every second they walked down the street.

Weiss gave Blake her credit card, not trusting Ruby not to buy everyone a whole tub of ice cream after seeing the massive sign announcing the fresh cookie dough ice cream in the window.

"So what's this about?" Yang asked, leaning her shoulder against the brick wall of the building.

"This." Weiss held out her scroll again for Yang to see.

"Holy shit. Is that… that's horrible!" Yang gasped looking closer at the picture. Her eyes flared red and her hair took on a slight flare as if it were lit from within each strand. Weiss took her hand back and cleared the picture from the screen as Yang looked up at Weiss.

"Calm down Yang, I need your help. If you were me, what would you do about it?" Weiss asked hoping that Yang would have a better answer since she had years of experience being a big sister. She watched as Yang reeled in her emotion and her eyes changed back to their usual hue.

"Wait, that's not you?" Yang's eyes widened wondering what type of monster was capable of that sort of treatment _._

"Of course not. I'm much worse. It's Winter and as you saw, most are relatively new." Weiss said quickly, watching through the door as the line moved up so Ruby, Winter, and Blake were now at the counter.

"Well, I'm assuming you know who did that." Yang stated thoughtfully closing her eyes and rubbing the bridge of her nose. Weiss nodded in response after Yang reopened her eyes to look into the ice cream shop where the happy little girl was ordering a scoop of rainbow. "Then I'd say you should confront them with one of two options. Either take the kid away or threaten the person who's beating her."

"And you name the impossible." Weiss muttered to herself as she turned to wave at Winter who was holding up her cone for Weiss to see.

"Sorry? Didn't catch that." Yang said, looking to the door to find Blake carrying two cones behind Winter.

"Thanks for the help." Weiss responded, dropping her thoughts back to where they wouldn't interfere with her conversation skills. "I guess I'm still new to this whole 'big sister' concept."

"No worries. It's a wild ride, so have fun with it. I definitely do." Yang laughed, clapping Weiss on the back. Inside, Winter seemed to flinch slightly at the movement but relaxed as she noticed Weiss's smile.

"Maybe you shouldn't hit people on the back in front of her for now. It probably brings up bad memories." Weiss commented, noticing the confusion in Yang's eyes in their reflection off the glass.

"Right. My bad." Yang opened the door to let their three friends out.

"I got us what they called badger. I think it's lemon and licorice." Blake said handing her a yellow and black ball atop a waffle cone.

"Thanks." Yang said with a smile as she looped her arm into Blake's as Winter took her other hand.

Ruby came out last carrying two cones that she seemed determined to hide behind her back.

"What did you get?" Weiss asked as Ruby stopped in front of her.

"Close your eyes." Ruby responded. Weiss was tempted to ignore her girlfriend's request, but couldn't help think Ruby knew her well enough to know her likes and dislikes. Weiss closed her eyes. "Okay. Now open… and forward just a smidge…"

Weiss followed Ruby's directions, finding the ice cream exactly where she'd hoped it would be. At first she couldn't taste it through the sudden cold but as it subsided, the flavour burst out across her tongue.

"Is that…?" Weiss asked, opening her eyes to see the white and red ice cream in front of her. "My god, I didn't think this flavour was actually a thing!"

"I know, right?" Ruby agreed, taking a bite of the top of her own cone.

"What are you guys talking about?" Winter asked curiously, watching the two interact with each other as if they could read each others thoughts.

"It's kind of a long story." Weiss laughed, taking Winter's hand as they started to walk.

"It's a long walk back home." Winter pointed out cunningly.

"Then I guess it's story time." Weiss laughed, looking to Ruby to start the long story. "I guess I'll let you explain how mean I was before then. But I call dibs on the yogurt part."

"Fine." Ruby sighed.

"This is gonna be good." Yang laughed, noticing Ruby's forehead crinkle slightly as she thought back.

"I guess the first time I met Weiss was when I knocked over her luggage and almost exploded us both off a cliff." Ruby started.

"Really? I wouldn't want to be friends with someone like that!" Winter interjected.

"Believe me. I didn't either at first, but it turns out its not all that bad." Weiss replied.

"Really?" Ruby asked expectantly.

Weiss looked down at Winter and spoke directly to her. "Sometimes you get the crazy people, but other times you get someone who will be your best friend regardless of your flaws. Taking a chance pays off every now and again, so it's definitely worth the risk."

"Awww!" Yang cooed from the other side of Winter.

"Back to my story!" Ruby called attention back to herself as she cleared her throat. "So there we were. A big cloud of dust wafting through the air…"


	12. A Family Affair: Chapter 12

**A/N: So these last few months have been hectic for me to say the least. What with school, work, a new project team, and family, I haven't had the chance to sit down and edit this or any of my other work to a quality I feel confident in posting. But I've had a chance to rest over the holidays, and am back for as long as possible before everything explodes in the coming few months with new deadlines and surprises that I'm sure will occur. And for those reading my other active stories: yes, I am working on the next chapters as time permits.**

 **To all those who have posted reviews, or liked, or followed: Thank you for your continued support.**

 **I wish all of you the best for this new year 2017, and without further ado, please enjoy.**

* * *

"I've tracked our current target Emerald to a small village approximately eighty miles east of here. The mission is simple, scout the territory and find out who this person is. Report directly to me and I'll issue further instructions." Ozpin stated, passing out tickets to a transit shuttle.

"These say we leave within an hour." Weiss stated, slightly crestfallen at the bump in her plans for the day.

"Yes, it is imperative that we get information as soon as possible." Ozpin said simply. "Is there a problem?"

"No sir… well, maybe." Weiss responded standing up. "I'll be back soon."

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Qrow, then home." Weiss answered as she started running back upstairs. "I'll meet you guys at the terminal."

"Wait!" Yang called, tossing a coin across the space at Weiss. Weiss spun and caught the projectile looking at it and wondering what it was.

"Qrow'll tell you what it is." Yang said making shooing motions with her hands. "Now go or you won't make it back in time!"

"Thanks?" Weiss said, turning back to continue on her mission.

She tore through the kitchen and into the back yard where Qrow was packaging some dehydrated smoked meat for the mission. He looked up at the sudden appearance of his niece's girlfriend and smiled until he saw the dark look on her face.

"What's got you all bothered? Not something to do with Ruby I hope." He laughed guessing it wasn't girl troubles he'd been searched out for.

"No, it's my sister." Weiss explained quickly. "Yang said you'd explain what this is?"

He took a look at the coin. "Aura activated distress beacon. Just pulse your aura and it's pair gets a signal. Why'd she give that to you?"

"She's smarter than she let's others think." Weiss smiled. "Can I ask if you'll be staying in Atlas while we're gone?"

"I'm not going anywhere. Someone's gotta keep an eye on things while Oz runs around Remnant like a beowolf with it's head cut off." Qrow laughed. Weiss tilted her head, not understanding the joke. "Old scythe wielder's joke. Doesn't matter. Anyway, why'd you want to know?"

"I'm guessing you have this coin's pair?" Weiss asked to a nod from Ruby's uncle. "If you don't mind, I'd like to give this to my sister and I'd like to ask you to keep an eye on her for me while we're gone."

"What's the trouble?" Qrow asked, now curious as to Weiss's reasoning.

"My father, if things haven't changed." Weiss responded. "I'm going to speak with him right away, but I needed a backup plan in case things go back to how they are now without my watching the situation."

"You can definitely count on me." Qrow nodded checking on the meat. "You have about forty minutes. You need a lift?"

"I'll be fine." Weiss smiled, patting Qrow's arm in thanks as she left to go back through the house and out the front door.

Fifteen minutes later, Weiss stopped outside of her sister's room. _Ten minutes to deal with her and my father and get back._

A short scream echoed from the room beside her. She tried the door to find it locked. _Screw it._ She thought, drawing her weapon and loading a cartridge. She hit the door making it explode open and embed the handle on the inside of the wall keeping the hydraulic spring from closing it.

Under the bed, a frightened Winter looked around at the new presence. "Weiss! Help!"

"Get out here you little bitch!" A man's voice grunted from the other side of the bed.

"Father! Leave Winter alone!" Weiss commanded, rounding the bed with her version of Ruby's semblance dusting snow along behind her.

"She's gotta be taught a lesson!" He screamed as he finally found purchase and dragged Winter out from under the bed by her leg. He stood up, his tall six foot seven frame shadowing over Weiss menacingly. "Now move or you'll get worse!"

"I'm warning you now. Let her down and leave or so help me, I will hurt you!" Weiss shouted, her control breaking as her vision flashed red with rage.

"Try it." Her father dared with a smile. Weiss paused, her hand clenching around her weapon in a mixture of desperation and fear. She knew attacking first was what he was expecting and that he'd once been a competent hunter himself meaning he knew exactly how to turn any fight into a win something Weiss knew she wouldn't be able to afford him.

Winter's face slowly grew more and more red and Weiss stopped trying to find the right answer, her decision made. In her head, her brain warned her there was still nine minutes before she had to leave. That was nine minutes to save Winter, incapacitate her father, and get Winter to a safe place for a while. That meant approximately three minutes for each task.

"Game on." Weiss mumbled, using a glyph to aim her first attack at her father's throat.

She launched forward, knowing her father would dodge, and anticipating the counter attack of a punch that she knocked aside with one of her own, hitting an old war wound he often complained about.

"Gah!" He gasped as she hit the sore point, causing him to drop Winter on the floor where she scurried to a corner behind Weiss.

 _Smart girl, stay there and make things easy for me._ Weiss thought as she followed up her dirty attack with several punches to various other pressure points and weak points bringing her father to his knees.

He lunged, tackling Weiss to the ground where he held her, punching her in the face repeatedly as Weiss tried to pull up a glyph for protection. After four hits, she finally forced one up, breaking the knuckles in her father's hand as he hit it with the full force of his weight.

Weiss spat a mouthful of blood out and brought her knee up into her father's unprotected groin, forcing him to roll off her as she rolled in the opposite direction. She got back to her feet and used Ruby's speed to kick her father in the face as he tried to get up, sending him back to land on the bed that broke with the sudden impact. Shards of wood flew all over the room and Winter's whimpering at the violence before her escalated to fully fledged crying as Mr. Schnee regained his feet.

"Not bad. But you're off your form." He criticized as he moved forward, Weiss was unarmed, her weapon having been dropped when she'd been tackled lay under the bed where it had bounced to.

He moved forward on the offensive, punching and kicking with his proficient mixed martial arts. Weiss fended him off, though with some difficulty. The only reason she was able to do that was because she'd learned a little from Yang while they were still at Beacon.

Weiss changed tactics as she continually lost ground, backing to a wall with no escape. She started using a mixture of her semblance and Ruby's to avoid attacks and counter without being blocked. She wasn't as strong as her father, nor as durable, but it wasn't how hard she hit, rather where that made her a formidable opponent. Within ten seconds, she'd taken her father down a second time as she swept his legs out from under him, a sickening crack echoing in the room as his head bounced off the carpeting hard.

"This is over!" Weiss asserted, walking past him and picking up her weapon that she sheathed back in it's place. "Come on Winter. Let's get out of here."

Winter took Weiss's hand as she walked towards the door.

"No! It's not!" Mr. Schnee made one last lunge at Weiss who spun, throwing Winter into the hall as she summoned a glyph to catch her father mid jump.

"Yes, it is." Weiss replied, reversing the momentum and sending him flying back at the wall.

His head hit first, leaving a horrible red smear as he slid to the ground unconscious. Weiss quickly walked back and checked his pulse before leaving the room and picking Winter up.

"Is he dead?" Winter asked still in shock from witnessing the brutal encounter.

"No. He'll wake up in a few hours." Weiss warned, setting Winter down as she rounded a corner. "Do you know some place you can go where he won't find you?"

Winter nodded and Weiss stood and reached into her pocket.

"I want you to go there and stay there until tomorrow night. Then your room should be put back how it should be." Weiss spoke from her own experience. "If he comes after you again, I want you to hide. He usually makes a lot of noise on his way, so you just have to listen. Also, do you know how to use your aura?"

"What's that?" Winter asked curiously after nodding at the tip she'd been given.

"That would be a no." Weiss sighed. She'd already used up more time than she'd hoped with the fight. _One minute left._ "Come here for a minute."

Weiss took her sister's hands and held them tight. She hoped that Winter simply had dormant aura that hadn't yet been accessed because if she was like most people in remnant, that would make Weiss's backup plan pretty much useless.

"Do you like playing pretend?" Weiss asked as Winter nodded in response. "Okay, I want you to do a really good job of it right now. I want you to believe that you can do anything with a magic power that is hidden inside you all you need to do is concentrate and pull that power out."

"Okay." Winter's face scrunched up in concentration as Weiss drew on her own aura and closed her eyes before speaking the oath her mother had once spoken for her and her sister.

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."_ Weiss completed the normal ritual and continued with the ritual passed to her by her mother. " _By the house of White and Season of Winter, I bequeath unto you the abilities passed down through the line of Schnee. From dusk till dawn shall we remain vigilant and protect the weak and uphold Remnant till the broken moon becomes whole, and the sun rises once more."_

Weiss dropped Winter's hands and felt her own aura drop to an almost critical level before it started drawing from her partner. After the fight with her father, she'd been almost too low to complete the ritual safely.

"Whoa!" Winter exclaimed, looking at her arms that were glowing bright blue, almost the same shade as her eyes when reflecting the sun. "What's that?"

"Your aura." Weiss explained, happy that the rituals seemed to be holding. "Whenever you need it, all you need to do is pretend to get super powers like you just did, and your aura will come to help you."

"But what do I do with it?" Winter asked, confused at why her sister had given her the power.

"Take this." Weiss handed the coin Yang had given her over. "Try imagining putting all that power in a little ball and sending it to the coin."

"Okay." Winter did as she was instructed, making her aura flicker for a second as the coin suddenly lit up brightly.

"Whenever you are in trouble, I want you to use your aura and make the coin glow like you just did." Weiss explained, her brain telling her she was already running two minutes late. "I have to go away again for a little bit, but do you remember Mr. Qrow?"

Winter nodded, remembering the one time she'd met the scruffy looking man.

"Good. If I'm not here, he'll come help you. Do as he says and everything will be okay. Alright?" Weiss asked, hoping she'd be able to get going. She was exhausted already and it was looking like she'd need to sprint to make it back almost on time.

"Okay. Good luck!" Winter said, jumping into Weiss's arms for a hug.

Weiss sighed at the gesture that she hadn't experienced before meeting Ruby. _At least you have people looking out for you._ Weiss smiled at the thought. She patted Winter on the back a couple times and pulled her arms from around her neck.

"Now I want you to go hide." Winter nodded at Weiss's request.

 _Minus five minutes._ She thought as she stood back up, her scroll vibrating with an incoming call.

"I'll come see you again as soon as I can." She said with a wave as she ran back down the hall. She pulled out her scroll and answered a worried sounding Qrow. "Everything's fine. I was showing her how to use it. She's hiding for now so she should be fine."

"You're still over there?" He asked as Weiss took off down the hall to the exit.

"It took a little longer than I thought. Tell Ruby I'm running five minutes late and I'll get there as soon as I can." Weiss said, hanging up and taking a deep breath as she carefully applied Ruby's semblance to increase her speed as she ran out the door into the courtyard. _My shoes are totally screwed today._ She thought as she felt the layers of rubber slowly start to wear down as she ramped the speed up another level. Fifty miles to go.

* * *

"Can't we wait for just one more minute?" Ruby asked the pilot as she stood in the doorway.

"Sorry, I've got a tight schedule and three minutes makes all the difference when we're facing head winds like we are today." He said unsympathetically. "Either get off and get the flight tomorrow or get on so I can shut the door."

"But she should be here any second!" Ruby argued, doing a mental calculation that Weiss would hopefully show within the minute as she continued to stall.

"She should have been here early like everyone else, so either get on or off, or I'll shut the door with you in the way." He grumbled as he started typing his password into the computer.

Reluctantly, Ruby stepped onto the craft, slowly turning to her teammates with a defeated shrug.

"Wait!" A faint voice called from the platform below them as a trail of white dissipated behind a fast moving object in the distance.

"Wait! There she is!" Ruby stepped back in the way of the door, forcing the pilot to stop it's progress and reopen it.

Seconds later, Weiss collapsed onto Ruby who dragged her exhausted frame past the pilot and into the seating area. The pilot was grumbling curses as he shut the door and went to take his seat in the pilot's cabin.

"You're late and look like hell." Blake observed as Ruby dropped Weiss into an empty seat and sat down beside her.

Ruby took a good look at Weiss for the first time since she'd arrived and had to agree with Blake's statement.

"It's nothing. Just a few bumps." Weiss grumbled, getting comfortable. "I think I'm going to take a nap for a while. Wake me if we get there."

"Sure." Ruby nodded. She carefully kissed her girlfriend's cheek and relaxed back into her own chair.

"So you think everything went okay?" Yang asked quietly from the seat behind Ruby's.

"Probably not as well as we'd hoped, but well enough." Ruby shrugged, finding Yang leaning around the seat to look at an already sleeping Weiss. "Anyway, we should be focusing on our mission."

"You're probably right." Blake nodded. "I'm going to take a nap as well. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Damn right you didn't!" Yang teased from her position leaning past Ruby.

"Come on, guys! Gross!" Ruby covered her face with her hands. "Go to sleep!"

Yang leaned back to her own seat as the flight attendant started the usual pre-flight information rundown about the exits and such.

Ruby laughed slightly as the attendant walked by and almost tripped when she saw Weiss who was sleeping completely still with dried blood still marking her face and neck.

"She's alive. Just worn out." Ruby assured her waving the attendant on dismissively.

"If you say so, miss." She said doubtfully but left none the less. She lay her head back in her seat, placing her hand on Weiss's as she started to drift off into sleep.

She must have been hovering on the edge of fully falling asleep for a while when she noticed Yang looking down at her from the isle.

"Hey." She said, her hoarse voice making Yang jump.

"Shit! I thought you were asleep!" Yang said, hiding her hand behind her back.

"I was, what are you hiding?" Ruby asked, wiping her eyes as she sat her seat back up.

"Don't worry about it." Blake said from her seat on the other side of Weiss. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Sure." Ruby shrugged it off. The plane started shifting into a dive. "Are we landing?"

"Yeah. Wake up the Snow Queen." Yang said, resuming her seat as the fasten seat belts sign flared bright red at the front of the cabin.

"Weiss." Ruby whispered, leaning over to the white haired girl's ear. "Weiss wake up."

"'S too early…" Weiss grumbled, turning her head slightly so she was facing Ruby more than Blake.

Ruby looked up at her teammate to see her turn her head in the opposite direction, giving them a moment of privacy. She leaned in and gave her girlfriend a long, slow kiss until Weiss started kissing her back. After a few moments of their tongues dancing around each other's mouths, Ruby pulled away.

"Good-morning. We're landing soon." Ruby giggled as Weiss opened her eyes.

"That wasn't near long enough of a nap." Weiss complained, sitting her seat back up and readjusting her seatbelt.

"Maybe you shouldn't use my semblance so much." Ruby joked, poking Weiss in the arm.

"Don't need to tell me twice." Weiss said, then a thought occurred. "How are you so awake?"

"Weiss, I basically live on sleep and sugar. When you used up most of our aura doing whatever it was you were doing, I basically binged on six boxes of cookies and even drank a pot of Qrow's coffee for good measure." Ruby cringed remembering the horrid black sludge that came out of the coffee maker that no amount of sugar could sweeten.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked, though she had a feeling she knew. She typically avoided coffee that she hadn't made herself or bought from a popular cafe for good reason.

"I think the coffee might have been alive at some point while I was drinking it." Ruby admitted remembering the random bubbles it had made in her cup and how she'd ignored it as she shoveled cookies down her throat and used the thick liquid to wash them down.

"Next time don't let your uncle make the coffee." Weiss advised with a smile.

"I made it." Ruby mumbled in embarrassment.

"Correction, next time let me teach you how to make coffee." Weiss replied as she started to laugh a bit at Ruby's blunder.

"It's not funny! I could've poisoned myself!" Ruby exclaimed, irritated by Weiss's laughing. "Maybe I'll make it for you some time!"

"Yes, it is." Weiss argued. "But first I'll teach you so you don't kill me. I know you wouldn't want my death on your conscience."

"I don't know. It looks like a plus right now." Ruby argued, grumbling.

Weiss swooped closer and pulled Ruby's face to hers. She planted a short kiss on Ruby's cheek before she backed away.

"I know you don't mean that." She whispered, her breath tickling the younger girl's ear. "And I'm sorry for laughing, but I thought it was too cute. And coming from my cute girlfriend."

Ruby shifted slightly in her seat. She didn't respond, so Weiss let her go and sat back in her own seat. The plane bumped slowly down as it landed on the runway and slowly approached the terminal.

"What's up with Ruby?" Yang asked, once again leaning around her sister's seat.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Ruby replied, jumping a little. Her face was glowing red and she kept shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

The plane stopped as Yang continued to inspect her sister. The door opened to the terminal and Ruby jumped up, pulling Weiss with her.

"I'm going to make sure Weiss doesn't scare anyone else with the dried on blood." Ruby explained quickly as she pulled Weiss down the isle. Once they were walking down the hall far ahead of everyone else, she looked angrily at Weiss. "This is all your fault, so you better fix it!"

"What are… oh." Weiss put two and two together and smiled. She let Ruby pull her into the washroom and let her pull her into a stall.

"Fix it!" Ruby ordered, still sounding angry, but her voice betrayed a hint of her desperation.

"Sure thing, _Princess_." Weiss laughed, throwing her own nickname back at its creator. In all honesty, Weiss was quite satisfied with the effect she'd had on the younger girl. "Where does your highness wish me to begin?"


	13. White Castle: Chapter 13

"You missed something." Blake pointed out as Ruby and Weiss rejoined their teammates.

"What? Oh, uh… it was busy?" Ruby questioned, realizing Weiss still had dried blood on her face.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked confused for a moment before she noticed her reflection in the glass of the nearby window. "And I've been walking around like this?"

Ruby nodded in confirmation.

"And on the plane?" Weiss asked again, realizing what it might have seemed like when she came in and basically fell asleep.

"The flight attendant thought you were dead." Yang supplied joyfully. "I poked you and you made a grunting noise that sounded like you were a zombie. It was awesome!"

"I bet it was." Weiss sighed. She looked around the area, spotting a water fountain. "I'll be back."

She returned after wiping some of the blood off her face so only the only remains of her fight were the slightly redder parts that were blotched across her pale skin.

"It'll do for now." Blake nodded as they started walking out of the airport.

The group started its long walk to the warehouse where they were supposed to find their target. The town was small, with only a handful of apartment buildings making up the downtown and even fewer stores that totaled in the low tens, each serving a singular purpose.

The commercial district was a field full of warehouses that seemed to be mostly in severe states of disrepair. One they passed was even collapsed on one side, leaving the roof tilted at an angle. Several of the warehouses showed signs of being the home to wildlife for many years and Weiss realized that this town didn't have a wall as was typical with most outlying towns to defend against grimm.

"Did Ozpin say anything about the grimm here?" Weiss asked curiously as she followed Yang who was constantly checking her scroll's map.

"No, but I wonder why this town doesn't seem to have any defenses." Yang spoke up as she stopped in an intersection. She turned and led her team down a few warehouses before turning back to their original direction.

"Maybe it doesn't need it." Blake pointed out. "Say, if they have a device like you two found in that White Fang base, then they wouldn't need a wall. They'd just keep the grimm away with that."

"But he said that there had to be a power source for it." Ruby pointed out.

"I've thought about that too. But what's stopping them from creating a perpetual energy machine to power the other machine?" Blake asked remembering articles she'd read back in Beacon for no reason other than as an excuse to stay in the library for a few hours longer.

"Those lose energy over time, so it's not really a perpetual energy machine, more as a machine that requires very little fuel." Weiss explained, having studied her companies research on the devices over the years. "But I see your point."

"And if our target has some type of connection to here, it would be believable that a version of the device was here to protect the place." Ruby concluded.

"Let's ask them, shall we?" Yang said, kicking the frail looking door of the warehouse open and leading her team inside.

The place was massive with streams of light coming through holes in the roof at random intervals, illuminating a catwalk that ran the length of the building and the floor that stretched flat from wall to wall. Off to one wall was an old looking computer with an equally ancient CRT monitor attached to it.

"Hah!" A voice yelled as a shadow flew down from the catwalk, delivering a kick to Yang's head that Yang managed to barely dodge as she delivered a punch to her assailant.

"Switch!" Yang called, jumping back as Blake used her semblance in an attempt to outmanoeuvre their assailant.

"Nice try." The green haired girl said, reaching out and catching Blake's hair before sending a kick at her stomach.

Weiss stepped in, blocking the next kick and knocking the assailant's grip off of her teammate with a glyph as she tackled the hostile girl to the floor. She rolled out of Weiss's hold and jumped up to her next fighting stance as Ruby rushed in, her scythe already spinning at incredible speed as she aimed to incapacitate.

The green haired girl fended off Ruby's attack and amazingly managed to knock her scythe out of it's trajectory, forcing Ruby to dodge around the sharp blade of her own weapon.

Yang jumped back in, using her gauntlets to deliver a flurry of punches that slowly built in speed and force as her aura slipped through. Yang delivered one final punch, her aura exploding with a sonic boom as her opponent blocked the fiery semblance with her aura before back-flipping away.

The green haired girl unclipped the weapon holsters at her hip and drew two odd looking pistols, flipping them in her hands like a cowboy from a western movie. She waited as she faced the team of four before her. Ruby noticed everyone waiting for her signal in their peripherals and nodded, rushing straight forward as the others moved to flank.

The green haired girl spun, shooting at Yang, forcing the blond to guard as the explosive dust hit her body with enough force to send a normal person flying. She used her aura to repair the superficial damage quickly before blocking the other rounds with her gauntlets.

Ruby was met by a swift kick that sent her stumbling back as the green haired girl transformed her second gun into a sickle that she launched in Blake's direction. The chain on the handle snapped taut as the sickle came swooping around, grazing Blake's arm as she dodged out of it's range.

"Move!" Weiss yelled, launching at the assailant, forcing her to spin and block Weiss's weapon with the pistol. The gun was knocked from her hand and sent flying with the explosive force of Weiss's dust attack.

Weiss followed the attack up with several slashes to non-vital parts of her opponent, attempting to buy time as her team moved in. Ruby launched herself forward, just as the green haired girl dodged out of the way, grabbing Ruby and sending her crashing into Weiss.

The two landed on the ground as Blake jumped in, kicking the girl out of the way while Yang rushed forward, her semblance burning as she fired rounds out of her gauntlets.

The green haired girl dodged both attacks skillfully before grabbing Blake's arm and spinning her into the line of Yang's fire. Yang held her fire as she caught Blake just as their opponent's sickle flew past them before spinning around them, wrapping them in chain.

The girl abandoned her second weapon, scooping up the first and paused as she faced off the now recovered Ruby and Weiss. Behind her an insistent beeping started, along with a flashing red light as the green display of the computer changed to a list of numbers.

Everyone was silent, waiting for the fight to continue when Ruby's scroll started beeping along with the computer. Then everyone else's scrolls started going off as well.

"You check yours while I check mine?" The green haired girl smiled, taking a step back toward the computer. She didn't take her eyes off her opponents as Ruby nodded, taking her scroll out and hitting the answer button.

"Get out… there… underground… incoming…. Repeat… missiles… underground… safety…." The call cut out into static and Ruby dropped her hand to check the signal. It was gone, leaving only an oddly flickering screen in it's place.

"Shit. No, no, no, no, no, no!" The green haired girl yelled, her voice increasing in volume as she typed frantically on the keyboard. "Work, god damn it!"

Team RWBY watched as she continued to type and swear before a big pop-up blocked the screen. Even from the distance they were at, Ruby and Weiss could read the access denied message flashing on the screen.

"That bitch!" The green haired girl swore, smashing the keyboard to pieces as Ruby quietly snuck closer to look at the screen as it flashed back to normal.

"We have a problem." Ruby informed her team, watching numbers change as small dots crisscrossed over a map in a corner. She noticed beside the coordinate numbers a weight. There were very few things that had a monitored weight that flew that fast.

"How big of a problem?" Yang asked having managed to break the chain keeping her and Blake incapacitated.

"Oh, just about double the size of the void crystal in Atlas aimed in our direction." Weiss stated almost sarcastically as her vision swept the room for anything that might help.

"I saw a sewer grate over there." Blake said, pointing to a dark corner of the building.

"Great! Now we'll die in a sewer! Just how I imagined my day ending!" Yang complained as she led her team over to the grate and destroyed it with a hard punch.

Ruby noticed, their opponent following at a short distance, her one remaining weapon re-holstered.

"Are you coming too?" Ruby asked, not fully trusting that the fight was over.

The girl didn't respond as she walked past, ignoring the four girls before her. She jumped down the hole and a small splash was heard a second later as she landed.

"I guess we don't have a choice." Blake said, following the green haired girl.

The rest of the team followed quickly as the beeping on the computer turned into a whine. The last to jump down, Weiss used dust to seal the opening with a thick layer of ice as she fell, encasing them in the smelly tunnels.

* * *

Blake led her team through the sewers to a place that wasn't swamped with water like most of the other tunnels had been. There they rediscovered the green haired girl who was sitting in a corner with her head down on her knees that she had wrapped her arms around.

She didn't give any indication she'd noticed their arrival, or maybe she just didn't care. She didn't move a muscle as RWBY sat down on the opposite side of the room. The team remained silent as they felt a massive vibration shake the ground indicating the detonation of the weapon of mass destruction above. Over the next few minutes, the air grew steadily denser as well as warmer. In the tunnel outside of their hideout water on the ground started steaming into fog that flooded through the passage and into the small room they hid inside. Luckily, it didn't smell any worse than the air already did.

After an hour of silence, the green haired girl got up and slowly started walking out to the tunnel that had run dry and fog-less. Ruby motioned her team to follow and they did so at a distance. Still, the girl seemed to be completely out of it as she walked down countless tunnels, seeming to turn randomly until she got to a ladder that led to a manhole cover. She wrapped her hands with the fabric of her empty holster after ripping it into two pieces. She climbed the ladder, still ignoring her pursuers.

Team RWBY emerged into a wasteland of black dirt and fire that still burned the houses in the area. Most of them were already collapsed or well on their way to following their neighbours to the ground. The air was thick with the smell of burnt everything, and smoke that continued to billow from the wreckage surrounding them blotted out the sun, making the day seem dark as twilight.

The girl walked down the street, RWBY following her at a slight distance as they took in the destruction around them. She turned up a walkway to a nearby home and stopped just before the porch that was blazing brightly.

On the sidewalk before her was a patch of ash that was charred from the flame that still burned slowly.

The girl knelt, her hand over a piece of ash that looked oddly similar to a section of blackened skull, as tears dripped from her face. As seconds ticked by, the girl broke down further and further until she was almost screaming in anguish while tears rained from her face to the ground. Team RWBY stood back, simply remaining quiet while they witnessed something they knew was all too common in their world.

It took an entire ten minutes, but the girl finally fell silent. Without turning, she finally addressed the team behind her.

"You want to know who did this." It wasn't a question and none of the huntresses felt the need to respond, simply waiting for the girl to continue. "White Castle. Courtyard warehouse three." She said, reaching slowly for her weapon. Yang tensed, her gauntlets still in their combat form. "End this."

The girl drew the weapon quickly and pulled the trigger making RWBY jump back as an explosion of red misted into the air. The girl fell forward, onto the step of the porch, the flames slowly licking at her deflated head as she lay there, the life suddenly gone from her body.

Ruby took out her weapon and fired a single shot into the sky above her as a final salute. She held her weapon up for a brief moment, her team keeping it's silence with her. "Let's go."

She turned and walked down the street, replacing her weapon on her hip as she walked, taking Weiss's hand and squeezing it for reassurance. The group remained silent as they walked, each in their own thoughts.

A beeping sounded on Weiss's scroll and she quickly answered. "Hello?"

"Hello Weiss, why didn't you answer your scroll?" Her father asked, sounding slightly distressed.

"I was underground hiding from a WMD. There was no signal. And beyond that, give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up now." Weiss sighed, closing her eyes as Ruby's hand guided her down the street.

"The departmental audit came in and, as requested I am contacting you to inform you of the results." He stated, his voice all business as it usually was.

"And?" Weiss prompted, wanting to end the call as soon as possible.

"It seems White Castle has fallen out of our control." He said simply. "As a huntress, I am hiring you to take care of this in whatever way you see fit."

"And if I refuse?" Weiss asked, knowing she wouldn't since her team's next destination happened to coincide with her father's request.

"Then we all die." He said simply. "I have a chopper en route. You will be briefed on your way back to Bunker One."

"Not Casa Blanc, then?" Weiss asked wondering why she was going to a fallout shelter instead of her father's main residence or business office.

"What remains of Atlas is in a state of urban warfare. Mistral and Atlas are now openly fighting, which makes any travel in either region difficult. You'll understand once the chopper arrives." He ended the call with that, leaving Weiss to put her scroll back into her pocket.

"What's that all about?" Ruby asked as they continued walking.

"We have a ride, and a way to get to White Castle." Weiss summarized. Just as she finished, Ruby's scroll sounded.

"Hello?"

"What is the status of your team?" Ozpin spoke quickly.

"Green sir. How's JNPR?" Ruby responded.

"Green as well. Was there time to complete the mission?" He asked, all business.

"Yes sir. We have a destination." Ruby said quickly into her scroll, hearing a helicopter close in.

"Very well, I will arrange extraction." He replied simply.

"Actually, we have one. Weiss will send you the location where we'll land."

"Very well, good luck Ruby." Ozpin said before hanging up.

Ruby put her scroll back to find Weiss already sending a message with a set of coordinates.

The helicopter landed in a field a block away and waited as RWBY kept their pace, approaching the shining craft.

"Why's it silver?" Yang asked looking at the brilliantly polished mirror that was created from the silver paint and polarized windshield.

"It reflects light, making laser guided missiles useless and also making it more difficult to spot from the ground." Ruby responded, having taken an interest in cloaking methods at an earlier point of her schooling.

"Let's get on." Weiss said, leading the way to the door and opening it for her team.

The craft took off, flying high in the air so it flew just below the clouds.

"Whoa." All four of them breathed, looking out the window at the massive black dot that marred the ground in the area along with several others marking the land here and there that continued to issue smoke. Even the far off Atlas seemed visible from the massive black cloud that rose from the horizon.

"Whatever this is, it's a lot worse than we thought." Blake stated, earning her nods from her teammates.

"And we're going to end it." Ruby said optimistically. "Team RWBY for the win!"

"Banzai!" The other three echoed in their usual team cheer.

The group fell silent as the long flight continued, watching out the window at the countless outlying towns that had been incinerated by countless missiles. Even larger towns hadn't been missed with their taller skyscrapers flaming beacons as the helicopter flew far overhead.

As the flight progressed, flashes of red and blue were visible in the sky above the smoking husk that was once Atlas. The ground was much worse, millions of Grimm rampaged through the shattered wall, killing those unlucky enough to have survived the missiles that had decimated the factory and warehouse districts. Alone, Atlas Military Academy stood untouched as mechanical soldiers ushered refugees in while killing the few Grimm that had managed to get farther in than the forward line. Nevermores flew over the crowd, launching razor sharp feathers at the people as they dodged dust rounds. The only word to describe it was slaughter.

Their helicopter continued onward, into the hills north of the city. On the top of a hill, a mechanical door opened the top of the hill, making a hole in what had appeared to be a simple mound of dirt.

"You have a stronghold under a hill?" Yang asked skeptically as the helicopter descended into the dark interior of the hill, the top closing as they passed it and continued downward.

"Technically, it's a hill that was built around a stronghold approximately two hundred years ago by my great great great grandfather. At the time I hear he was paranoid that the world would end, so he made this to keep his family safe." Weiss said, remembering the old story she'd been told when she found out about the base. "Of course, my father has made a few upgrades."

The lights along the walls slowly turned on row by row as they continued to descend down the long shaft in the ground. The helicopter eventually landed on a platform part way down the shaft allowing it's occupants to get out.

"Welcome Miss Schnee, Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long, Miss Belladonna." A butler bowed to them as RWBY put some distance between themselves and the edge leading to a very long drop to the bottom of the shaft. "Your father is expecting you immediately."

"Very well." Weiss nodded, following the middle aged woman into the metal halls that turned in massive arcs around the central cavern.

They passed hundreds of doors that led off the main hall to who knows where before passing through one of them and walking down the flight of stairs that was hiding behind it.

Several minutes later, they walked up to a massive circular door that screeched as it slowly rolled aside to admit them. Behind it, large brass gears spun at varying speeds as the clockwork pulled the blast door aside. After stepping through, the door started it's noisy journey back to where it first stood, a loud clunk sounding as it finally stopped in its resting place.

The journey was far from over, however as they passed six more doors identical to the first as the metal halls slowly got colder before turning to tunnels that were dug out hastily from the bedrock as they descended deeper and deeper into the fortress. The last door closed behind them as they approached an area made of old oak, the walls seemed ancient with the wood taking on an almost white appearance from the age that had long faded it's stain. The floor wasn't much better before it turned to shaggy carpet that seemed to be in the early stages of decomposition.

"He is waiting beyond this door." The butler said with a bow. "I am not permitted to enter, and will wait here if you have any need of me."

Weiss led her team into the room, closing the door behind them as they took the seats that had been set up for them. Mr. Schnee, his face bruised and swollen, took in the team sitting before him with bloodshot eyes.

"I have need of you four." He started, looking each of them in the eyes in turn. "There is a matter that must be dealt with quickly and discreetly."

"Sir, we have visual on six unknowns incoming! Awaiting your orders." An ancient comm system on the table behind him spoke with a static-filled hiss.

Mr. Schnee took his scroll out and opened a camera feed. He zoomed and froze the screen.

"I believe you know these people." He turned the scroll to face the huntresses before him.

"I instructed them to come here." Weiss answered with a nod, seeing the signature pink and green blobs that made up Nora and Ren beside four others that were definitely the other half of their team, Ozpin, and Qrow.

Mr. Schnee nodded and turned his chair to the device. "Let them in. Send them directly to me."

"Yes, sir." The voice responded as the crackling died. Weiss's wounded father turned back to them and closed his eyes and remained still as if he'd fallen asleep. Weiss sighed and took Ruby's hand in her own as she relaxed further into her chair. They were safe for now.


	14. White Castle: Chapter 14

**A/N: Warning, lemon this chapter.**

* * *

"What is this place?" Pyrrha asked as the butler led them down flight after flight of stairs, large doors rolling out of their way as they approached, grinding back into place as they passed.

"I am not at liberty to say. Perhaps you should ask someone in the Schnee family." The butler fell silent, turning to lead them down another hall.

"I believe this was initially designed as a fallout shelter by the Schnee's several generations ago." Ozpin stated from his position bringing up the rear.

"That was the one that went crazy and ended up diving off a building right?" Qrow asked with bit of a laugh.

"I believe it was." Ozpin replied. Jaune and Ren exchanged a glance with Ozpin who continued his explanation. "It turns out he had stage four brain cancer and may have been hallucinating. Of course, the fall was fatal so there was no way to find out for certain."

"That makes more sense." Nora said, as the butler came to an abrupt stop beside another butler.

"This is your destination. Please enter." The butler said, gesturing to a door. He stepped to the side as the group passed and left as they entered.

Inside, team RWBY sat in silence, Mr. Schnee watching them in equal silence. He waited patiently, as the newcomers took their seats, simply nodding to Ozpin and Qrow as they remained standing at the back of the room. When it was apparent they wouldn't take a seat, he began.

"Recently, I had ordered an audit of every department in the Schnee Corporation." He said, standing and pressing a button on an ancient remote he'd taken from his desk drawer. The lights went out and an old ceiling mounted projector sent an image onto the wall to their right. He flipped through the slides, pausing at each one. "Every branch checked out as expected until the audit moved to White Castle. The auditing team was shot down by White Castle defences. They have not made contact for twelve hours. Any contact I have attempted with the castle's administration has been ignored. I am hiring each of your teams for a two part mission. The first part is to confirm the fate of my auditing team. The second is to resolve the situation within the walls of White Castle. You will have everything we have in storage at this location at your disposal. I have already sent Weiss a database listing our inventory. Are there any questions?"

"What are you paying?" Weiss asked, knowing the others probably hadn't thought to ask the question.

"Five for the team and ten for the castle." Mr. Schnee replied.

"Five… what?" Ruby asked, thinking she was making a mistake thinking he was talking about fifteen thousand lien.

"Fifteen million lien, naturally." He responded, tilting his head slightly. "Any other questions?"

Weiss looked around and noticed everyone keeping silent. "No. We'll need a place to get organized, and in about an hour we'll have a list of equipment we'll require."

"Very well. You leave at dawn tomorrow." Mr. Schnee stood and shook each of their hands in turn. "The butler is not permitted to go further in this section of the bunker. There is a meeting room that would suit your needs at the end of the hall on the left. My head of security will be by to get your list of equipment in approximately one hour. Please make yourselves at home in the guest rooms that line the rest of this hallway for the remainder of your stay."

"Thank you for your hospitality." Ozpin inclined his head before leading the two teams and his colleague out the door.

The butler outside the door stood still, staring at the wall opposite his position. They turned in the opposite direction and followed Mr. Schnee's directions to the office at the end of the hall.

Weiss watched the doors they passed as if expecting one to open. They reached the meeting room without any issue. The group got to work, Jaune sending copies of the files around to everyone so they could each work on compiling their lists. Qrow and Ozpin took their chairs to a corner and worked on their own scrolls and conversing in hushed tones.

Weiss and Ruby kept checking each other's lists and removing duplicate items before moving them all to one list. Weiss double checked the amount of dust she was still carrying and Ruby did the same, creating a second list to add to the first. The other partnerships seemed to be in sync as they all finished compiling their lists at roughly the same time.

"I'll put those all in one list." Jaune said, taking pictures of each list and compiling them on his scroll.

"Now we just have to wait for the head of security." Weiss stated, the hard wooden chair she sat on forced her up as her back started cramping.

"You can leave the list with us. Go get some rest." Qrow said with a wave as he listened to a mumbled comment from Ozpin. "We've still got some work to do here."

Weiss opened the door as everyone else got up. She led the way down the hall, selecting a room at random and opening the door. The floor had the appearance of being dusty though it was obviously freshly cleaned. The bed was a single large four poster and there was little more in the way of furniture other than a vanity with a large circular mirror and a desk at the side of the bed. There was no shower in the room.

Ruby walked in behind Weiss, waving slightly to her sister who opened a door across the hall before shutting her door and turning the lock.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked, coming up to Weiss who had stopped in the middle of the room. "You seem a bit out of it."

"Just thinking…" Weiss responded with a shrug, holding still as Ruby wrapped her arms around her waist.

"About what?" Ruby asked. Weiss could feel the curves of her body pressed against her back. It distracted her from her thoughts long enough to force a smile to her face.

"Just everything. You, me, Winter, Yang, Blake, JNPR, my father, Atlas and Mistral. Vale." Weiss listed in no particular order. She closed her eyes as she felt the coldness that had entered her skin slowly ebb as Ruby's warmth took it's place. "The world."

"That's a lot to be thinking about." Ruby commented, squeezing her arms tighter for a split second before loosening as she turned her girlfriend in her arms. "Want to talk about it?"

"Maybe…" Weiss nodded, resting her forehead on Ruby's. "That would probably be a good idea."

"Start wherever you want." Ruby instructed, pulling her to down on the bed so they were laying side by side, comfortably cuddled above the thin sheets.

"I guess I've had this on my mind for a while…" Weiss started, not really knowing where to start. "I rewrote my will."

"As in final wishes?" Ruby asked, wondering why Weiss would have one to begin with.

"Yeah. For my sixteenth birthday, my father gave me a lawyer to help write my will. Real nice, right?" Weiss laughed sarcastically. "Anyway, about a week before I came to find you at Echo, I had it rewritten."

"I guess considering how many times we've almost died last month alone, that's a good thing?" Ruby laughed a little.

"If something happens to me, you get everything." Weiss said turning to look at Ruby. Ruby's eyes seemed concerned as they kept contact with Weiss's. "Not that I expect anything to. Just a precaution."

"Weiss…" Ruby didn't know how to respond to this bit of information, but it seemed Weiss wasn't finished yet.

"I just want to avoid any… unpleasantness my father might create if something were to happen." Weiss explained a little.

"What brought this on?" Ruby asked, dropping her questions for a more appropriate time, namely a week and a half later when she turned sixteen.

"I have a bad feeling about this one." Weiss said, turning back to look at the canopy of the bed.

"More than last time?" Ruby asked, slightly worried for her teammate's uneasy state.

"I just have a feeling that something is going to go very very wrong." Weiss said thoughtfully. "It's like this little nagging at the back of my mind is telling me to just run and hide. Stay in this bunker for the rest of our lives. Let the world do what it wants without us. Let it destroy itself without us. Just stay out of it."

"I know what you mean." Ruby agreed. "But we have to do something because we're the only ones who can and aren't already busy. I just wish we had more hunters to help."

Weiss didn't respond. She just continued to lay flat, one arm wrapped around Ruby as her eyes slowly started to flutter. Ruby saw that and yawned, readjusting her position beside Weiss slightly.

A quiet tapping brought them back to their senses. Ruby got up and walked over to the door. She opened it to find Winter standing there.

"Hi Winter. How's it going?" Ruby asked, stepping aside to let the small girl in as Weiss sat up.

"Weiss?" Winter asked, coming up to stand beside the bed.

"What's up?" Weiss asked, wrapping her arm around Ruby as she sat back down beside her.

"Um… it's about… him…." She said, casting a glance at Ruby.

"Right." Weiss nodded, understanding the situation. "I had to tell Ruby about him after last time because I was pretty banged up. It's okay."

"Okay…" Winter seemed a little less concerned than she was a moment ago. "Something doesn't seem right. I heard the servants talking about some stuff and I don't want to stay here anymore."

"You can't go back to Casa Blanc." Weiss stated firmly. "There's a war going on in the city and I don't want you anywhere near there."

"But-" Winter started to argue, but Ruby interjected.

"My uncle is in the meeting room." Ruby said with a kind smile. "He might seem a bit rough on the outside, but he's really nice. He'll help teach you what to do if any trouble comes up."

"And we'll be back once we take care of a little problem Father is having at White Castle. Okay?" Weiss asked, reassuring Winter that she wouldn't just disappear again.

"Okay." Winter sighed. She looked a bit worried, so Weiss reached out her hand.

"Come here." Weiss ordered smiling. Winter took the offered hand and Weiss pulled her into a hug. "I promise once things start going back to normal, I'll show you my house and we can have a sleepover, alright?

"Can it just be me and you?" Winter asked, glancing at Ruby out of the corner of her eye.

"Sure. I just so happen to have a different sleepover to attend on the same day." Ruby replied, making up her excuse on the spot. "They invited me first, so I can't make it even if I really wanted to."

Winter seemed to be cheered by the idea of a sleepover at her sister's house and pushed herself out of Weiss's arms, now smiling. "I'm going to make a list of stuff we're going to do!"

"Make it really long! We'll stay up all night long!" Weiss laughed, watching Winter dart out of the room, shutting the door behind her with an excited wave.

The two sat next to each other, each immersed in their own thoughts. Weiss couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she'd told Ruby of earlier, and it seemed Ruby was concerned as well. After several moments, Weiss leaned her head onto Ruby's shoulder, making her jump at the sudden movement.

"So, what now?" Ruby asked, placing her hand on Weiss's leg, feeling the cool skin of her girlfriend.

"You tell me." Weiss responded in a whisper, planting a small kiss on Ruby's cheek.

Ruby turned and Weiss's next kiss landed on her lips. The soft, yet cool sensation of Weiss that Ruby so loved melted her insides and set her ablaze with heat to melt the ice that seemed to be constant with Weiss.

Weiss pulled Ruby down as they continued to kiss, cuddling close to fend off the offensively cold air in the room as their legs entwined and arms wrapped around their partners.

Weiss felt the familiar feeling in her chest that told her Ruby had once again started to work her magic. Several seconds was all she could take before she broke the kiss panting.

"Ruby, before we do this, I want to ask you something." Weiss said breathlessly, keeping Ruby from reconnecting their lips.

"Shoot." Weiss could tell Ruby needed her again and couldn't help but smile in satisfaction of the effect she had on her lover.

"I know it might seem sudden, but I've thought about this a lot over the past few weeks. I wanted to know what you thought." Weiss explained rather shyly.

"If you don't tell me, I can't tell you what I think." Ruby stated quickly.

"Right… well… I know this isn't the best time, but I cant shake that bad feeling…" Weiss took a deep breath and looked Ruby in her eyes seriously. All joking gone from her face. "Ruby, provided we survive this mission, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

Ruby's mind was blank. _She just said 'wife' right?_ She asked herself as her brain slowly processed the concept, spitting out every image imaginable with a man in a tuxedo holding a girl in a white dress. Except now it was Weiss in a white tux and herself in a red gown. Ruby suddenly realized she could get behind that idea, but as her brain caught up, Weiss continued talking.

"It's okay if you're not ready. I mean, we could agree to it and postpone it for years still… I just wanted to know if-" Weiss went on in Ruby's silence, her face growing steadily redder the longer she babbled.

"Yes." Ruby finally managed to speak, the bubble inside her popping as she smiled at Weiss.

"What?" Weiss asked, almost having missed Ruby's answer and suspecting she had just heard what she had wanted to hear.

"Yes. Yes, I'll marry you." Ruby repeated, she felt her eyes tearing up but didn't care. "I love you and I'll marry you and we can do it in a week and a half!"

"What?" Weiss asked, blindsided by Ruby's insistence of such an early date.

"I'm only allowed to get married when I'm sixteen, and my birthday is in a week and a half." Ruby said, explaining her reasoning so Weiss knew where her idea had come from.

"You're sure?" Weiss asked, still not believing how Ruby had responded.

"Completely. Now come here!" Ruby pulled Weiss into her smiling lips. Tiny drops of liquid made streams down her face that rubbed off on Weiss as their heads moved.

"Off!" Weiss said breathlessly as Ruby shifted off her for a second. Ruby's face dropped as Weiss jumped off the bed and ran to the door. She needn't have worried as Weiss turned the lock, making it click where it had been before Winter had knocked. She then rushed over to the vanity and opened the drawer. Inside, she found what she was looking for. She jumped back down beside Ruby, her hand closed in a fist. "I know it's not much, but until the world stops fighting and I can do better, I want you to have this."

Weiss took Ruby's hand and slipped a thin silver band on her ring finger. It wasn't dissimilar to one that she had seen Weiss wearing at random times on and off throughout their time together. The difference was Weiss putting it on her ring finger, not the middle where Weiss had always worn it.

"My father mass produced these, and they weren't exactly good sellers. So now they're everywhere at our residences. I'll replace it with something more original after." Weiss said quickly, her eyes insecure about her choice of gift for Ruby.

"It's perfect." Ruby smiled, admiring the brilliant simplicity of the silver band.

Ruby brought her lips back to Weiss's as she continued where they'd left off. This time, keeping her hand in between them, flat against Weiss's stomach as she felt the muscle the slender girl had built.

Weiss felt herself heat up to an unbearable degree as Ruby kept her hand on her, effectively keeping her from moving to embrace her more. Ruby moved to the side, kissing and licking Weiss's ear, forcing a whimpering moan out of Weiss's lips as Ruby's teeth grazed her sensitive ear.

"Clothes." Ruby whispered. Even before she finished the single word, Weiss had started to wriggle out of her clothes as she lay on the bed, failing in her attempt to pull Ruby's off at the same time.

Ruby followed Weiss's lead and stripped, pulling up the displaced sheet that had slid to the foot of the bed with their clothes. She pulled it up to their necks, knowing it would slide down anyway.

Ruby moved down, nibbling playfully at Weiss's skin making Weiss moan in frustration as Ruby teased her endlessly. Eventually, she made it to Weiss's small breast. She took her time teasing Weiss who was insistently pushing her head to where she wanted it. When she finally clamped down on the erect nub of Weiss's breast, Ruby sucked gently, knowing Weiss liked it when she did that.

Weiss slapped a hand over her mouth as she almost screamed from the miniature orgasm that Ruby had created by keeping her unsatisfied for so long. Ruby wasn't done, using her hand to skillfully play with her other nipple, keeping the small muscle spasms racing through her as she felt herself draw near to another of the tiny bursts of pleasure.

Ruby stopped and started moving back up. Weiss moaned as she felt the stored energy within her build to a volatile exploding point as Ruby slowly moved back up to her lips.

The two kissed, Ruby seeming to savour and enjoy the contact as Weiss, even with her mind pushed to it's boundary from Ruby's skilled work, etched every moment into her memory.

Ruby felt Weiss start to shake slightly underneath her and reached down to let her get some pleasure. Weiss felt herself burn hot as Ruby's hand travelled slowly down her stomach and over her navel. She mirrored Ruby's moves, reaching a hand down and cupping her girlfriend's private area.

Their tongues never stopped dancing in their well established pattern as each girl slipped a finger into their partner.

The reactions were immediate, Weiss came hard as Ruby gave a startled squeak, not realizing how close she'd become from servicing Weiss. The two ignored their tremors as they continued, adding two fingers each before Ruby collapsed on Weiss, making moving their arms almost impossible as Ruby's body pressed tightly to Weiss's.

Before long, the friction of their connected bodies moved both girls to start grinding their hips together as they slowly built the energy pulsating from their regions to their nipples as they pressed together. The feeling of every small detail of their lover's skin against them bringing them right to the edge of what they both knew would be the stopping point of the night.

"Weiss!" Ruby tensed, just as Weiss felt herself explode.

"Ruby!" Weiss gasped as her body shook, milking Ruby's fingers and feeling Ruby shudder on top of her.

As their spasms died down, Ruby rolled to the side, panting as she turned away. Once she caught her breath, she found herself admiring the simple band Weiss had given her. She knew it wasn't intended as the actual engagement ring, but for now it was perfect.

Weiss wrapped an arm around Ruby, their breathing slowly changing until their breaths were in sync.

"What's up?" Weiss asked, squeezing Ruby tighter into her as she pulled up the sheet that had slid down to keep the warmth in.

"Just wondering what I did right to deserve you." Ruby flirted with a laugh.

Weiss laughed in response, breathing deeply in Ruby's hair. It wasn't freshly washed, but still smelled like Ruby's shampoo but mixed with her sweat like she had been working out. The smell was oddly comforting to Weiss as she slowly fell asleep, cuddled into Ruby the way they always tried to end the day. "That's my line."


	15. White Castle: Chapter 15

A loud knock sounded at the door, waking Ruby from one of the best night sleeps she'd had in literally months. She carefully shifted to cuddle up to Weiss who currently had most of the sheets and left Ruby somewhat cold. She pulled the blanket far enough to cover up as she twisted herself around Weiss, capturing her with twisted legs and arms wrapped around the sleeping girl.

Ruby felt herself start drifting again as a voice called out from the other side of the door.

Ruby sighed, closing her eyes for a few seconds longer, enjoying her fiance's warmth as she drew the courage out of the steady warmth to confront the new day.

"Weiss. Wake up." Ruby whispered, kissing Weiss until her eyes opened and snapped back shut happily. Ruby pulled away reluctantly as she smiled at Weiss. "Wake up call."

"Can I hit snooze?" Weiss asked playfully, running her hands down Ruby's side making her shiver.

"How is it that the only cold parts on you are your hands?" Ruby complained with a little giggle as she nevertheless repaid Weiss by starting a massage to her chest.

"Oh…" Weiss moaned under her breath, closing her eyes as Ruby's treatment sent a wave of pleasure coursing through her.

A second knock made both girls freeze as they listened carefully as to who was right outside their door.

"Come on! We have to gear up!" Yang's voice called from the other side of the door, making Ruby halt her actions.

"We'll be there soon!" Ruby called back, rolling off Weiss, cupping her head in her hands for a moment.

"Just hurry. We have to leave soon!" Yang said before they heard her steps retreat from the door.

"Why are we constantly being interrupted?" Ruby asked, looking back at Weiss.

"Must be Murphy's law in action." Weiss laughed.

"I swear after all this saving the world stuff is done, I'm going to find this Murphy guy and kill him, and then kidnapping you to a house with nothing around for miles!" Ruby grumbled getting up and starting to sort her clothing from Weiss's, making two piles and passing one to Weiss before taking the other. She started to pull her clothing on as Weiss watched. "Don't just sit there, we have somewhere to be, remember?"

"I know, you're just too beautiful to ignore sometimes." Weiss replied seductively, earning her a nice view as Ruby turned to put on her boots before her skirt. "Not to mention downright sexy."

Ruby laughed and finished pulling her clothes on. "Well, since I'm finished and you're not, I'm going to go get equipped."

"Wait!" Weiss said, almost tripping as she tried to pull on several pieces of clothing at the same time while Ruby took a step backwards to the door.

"I won't leave without you." Ruby teased, still giggling at Weiss's odd attempt at getting dressed. "Also, I didn't know you could bend like that."

Weiss felt her face burn red but didn't care since Ruby had put her in more vulnerable positions before. She responded with a sly taunt. "There's a lot of ways I can bend. Some of them you'll only get to see after we're married."

"Ooh! Incentives! Nice!" Ruby cheered enthusiastically, but Weiss could sense the teasing mirth beneath her tone.

Weiss finished pulling on her skirt and grabbed her jacket that she put on while walking to Ruby and the door. She reached for the handle as Ruby pulled her head down for a kiss. Weiss froze, her hand on the handle as her lips moved autonomously in response to Ruby's.

"That never gets old." Ruby smiled as she broke the kiss. Weiss smiled and turned the handle, opening the door.

Winter stood there with a raised hand poised to knock.

"What never gets old?" She asked, cocking her head to the side while taking in her sister and her teammate.

"Winter, some things you'll learn when you get a little bit older. Okay?" Weiss sighed, not wanting to explain her relationship with Ruby to her. She didn't even know how much Winter knew about that sort of thing.

"And on a completely related note…" Ruby smiled while holding out her hand for Winter to look at.

"What's so special about that ring? I've seen hundreds of them flying around." Winter shrugged.

"It's not the ring, it's what it represents." Weiss said, resigned to her fate.

"What it…" Winter trailed off looking at Ruby in a new light. "You're getting married?"

"Yeah." Ruby nodded happily as Winter gave her a big hug.

"Whoever he is, he's a lucky guy." Winter smiled politely.

"Yeah, she is." Ruby responded with wink before walking away from the two sisters to the meeting room.

"She meant 'he', right?" Winter asked Weiss her eyes narrowed in suspicion as pieces started to click in her mind.

"First off, I'll bet our parent's gave you the talk on what's acceptable, right?" She understood the confusion that it would give her if her parents had already lectured her about their philosophy. Winter nodded in response, causing Weiss to unintentionally sigh. "Just promise me one thing?"

"Okay?" Winter was even more confused by Weiss's lack of direction in the conversation.

"If they ever tell you something like only boys and girls can love each other or humans are better than faunus, call anyone on my team or JNPR and find out if it's true. Our parent's aren't the smartest, and they tend to make mistakes. Like anyone can love anyone else. Like, I love you because you're my sister and I love Ruby too." Weiss explained, as Ren poked his head out of the meeting room and waved to her. She waved back indicating she'd be right there.

"Why do you love Ruby?" Winter asked curiously.

"She was my friend when I really really needed one, even though I didn't know it." Weiss answered, ruffling the little girl's hair. "And many other reasons, but that's why I'm going to marry her."

"Wait! _You're_ her boyfriend?" Winter asked, the confusion returning full force.

"I know it's a little bit confusing, but when I get back we'll go for that sleepover and I promise I'll answer all the questions you have, okay?" Weiss asked, sensing she was running out of time fast.

"Promise?" Winter asked cautiously.

"Promise." Weiss responded, giving her sister a quick hug. "But I have to go now."

"Good luck!" Winter waved as Weiss jogged down the hall and disappeared through the door.

* * *

"Weiss, over there." Ruby pointed to a box on the table as she seemed to fiddle with something in the corner.

"Thanks." Weiss ran over to the box and started quickly loading the cylinders for her weapon with dust, configuring them so she had each chamber filled with a different type.

"So what did you two do last night?" Yang asked from Weiss's left as she worked on loading her shells onto an ammunition belt.

"Not much. Just went to bed." Weiss shrugged, not knowing if this was the best time to make her and Ruby's announcement to the group.

"Bow chicka bow wow!" Yang laughed, causing Blake to smack her arm lightly.

"Knock it off. It's not like what you did was much different." She sighed as she ran a sharpening block down her weapon's blade.

"So didn't need to hear that." Weiss mumbled, placing the clip of extra rounds for Ruby's weapon in her extra pouch as she slipped it onto her belt.

"It's finished!" Ruby punched the air in victory as she turned and came back to her equipment beside Weiss.

"What were you doing over there?" Weiss asked Ruby as the conversation around her seemed to fall silent.

"Well, I wanted to give you something too…" Ruby said, keeping her fist hidden. "I thought you might like this since I used your other one."

Ruby presented her fist palm down, forcing Weiss to hold out her hand. Ruby opened her fingers and pressed a warm piece of metal into Weiss's hand before curling Weiss's fingers around it.

"I know your rapier doesn't really use ammunition, but I couldn't think of anything else to use as a container." She explained as Weiss opened her fingers to find the strangest round she'd ever seen in her hand.

The metal seemed to glow gold from the inside as if it were illuminated from every possible angle. The top of the round faded to the usual black that was the cap of Ruby's dust rounds. Around the cylinder of the round, small scratches could be found that Weiss had to squint to read.

 _A cool head finds the target and warm hands never miss. Love Ruby._ The inscription was obviously a reference to her joke earlier that morning, but the sentiment stood on its own as well.

"Thank you." Weiss breathed, curling the round back into her palm for a moment before she quickly looked around her supplies for a needle and thread. She stabbed the needle through the black rubber top of the round, pulling the thread through and tying it off in a long loop. "Give me a hand?"

Ruby took the round as Weiss turned around. She placed the string over Weiss's head and tightened the knot until it hung just above the cut of Weiss's outfit.

"So… what'd you get?" Yang asked Ruby, remembering her earlier statement.

"Huh?" Ruby asked peeking around Weiss at her sister. She nervously summed up the whole evening, talking as quickly as Nora on caffeine. "Oh, I'm having a sleepover with you when we get back so Weiss can get to know her sister a bit more. And then we both don't have a very good feeling about today, and we're getting married, and we have to-"

"Whoa, whoa, hold the train!" Yang held up both of her hands to her sister. "Did you say you're getting married?"

"Uh, probably?" Ruby asked, hiding behind Weiss a little. Weiss sighed. This would be on her.

"Nothing is set yet, but I want to say that I'll never be unfaithful to your sister." Weiss said, looking Yang in the eyes. Yang stared her down for a while but Weiss had no reason to budge from her stance or look away. After a while, Yang nodded.

"Then you have my blessing as well as my uncle's. Speaking of which, it's under a year, so he owes me two hundred." Yang smiled roguishly as she turned back to her work. "Congratulations, by the way."

Weiss sighed before what Yang had said registered. Shaking her head, she replied in disappointment. "I'm not sure whether I should be happy that you've given your blessing, or angry that you had a wager on when one of us would propose."

"Don't worry yourself too much about it." Yang winked as she transformed her gauntlets back into their stowed form.

The group continued to arm themselves and had just finished when the door opened once more.

"Alright teams, are your preparations complete?" Ozpin asked as he held the door open. When everyone echoed a 'yes' he nodded. "Then our aircraft is waiting to take us to the forest next to our breach point. I'll explain the situation en route."

Ruby caught Jaune's concerned gaze before meeting the eyes of her fiance. Weiss looked concerned but Ruby knew she was already resolved in her choice to participate. Even so, she wanted to voice her concern to everyone before they left.

"Hey, everyone… just… I know that today might not go well, and I understand if anyone wants to stay here." Ruby looked around at everyone giving her their attention. "I just have a really bad feeling about this and I'm sure some of you do too."

The group looked at each other for a moment before they each straightened and looked at the youngest girl.

"We came this far. It wouldn't be right to give up now." Jaune said to nods from his team.

"What's life without a bit of risk?" Yang asked with a devilish grin as she cracked her knuckles.

Ruby looked to Weiss to find her already looking at her intensely. "My place is at your side, Ruby. Protecting the world from itself."

"Well spoken." Ozpin took a sip from his coffee. "Let's move out."

Ruby smiled slightly even as the foul feeling eating at her gut grew worse. She wished that somehow she'd be able to tell what it meant, but she feared she might just find out soon.

* * *

Ruby gaped with the rest of her team and JNPR as they looked out at what was once the capital of the kingdom. Fire burned, grimm rampaged and there were swarms of mechanized soldiers simply wandering and destroying the creatures they came across. It was obviously a situation of damage control and thankfully it seemed to be working against the disorganized creatures of darkness. The grimm seemed almost docile in comparison to when they'd attacked Vale, something that seemed to be linked to whatever device that controlled their movements.

"It's a relief Ironwood was able to mobilize the military and recruit hunters so quickly." Ozpin commented.

"Yesterday, it looked like it was going to be another Vale." Qrow replied seriously from next to the headmaster.

The rest of the cabin remained silent after that as they left the capital and flew into the countryside where White Castle lay.

Below them, the ground slowly shifted from windswept prairie to snow covered tundra. The trees slowly became thicker as they flew over a small forest, then they once again disappeared as aircraft continued farther north.

Weiss fell disinterested with the passing scenery and took in the cabin. Qrow and Ozpin sat next to each other near the hatch. Ozpin was watching the ground fly by as Qrow appeared to be asleep. Team JNPR sat next to Qrow, the couples each leaning against each other for support. Nora was sitting completely still as Ren's leg bounced impatiently. Pyrrha seemed to be lost in her own thoughts as Jaune openly stared into her face. The overall effect was disheartening.

Next to her, Weiss saw Blake and Yang each sitting facing forward with their eyes closed. The only indication of the others presence being their entwined hands. Weiss looked down at her own hand which too was wrapped with that of her lover. She turned to Ruby to find her eyes glazed over and a deep frown marring her features.

"Hey." Weiss whispered. Even if she could barely even hear herself, both the other half of her team and team JNPR all turned toward her for a second before returning to their previous positions. When she looked back, she found herself staring into those bright silver eyes she'd fallen in love with.

Weiss closed her eyes as Ruby's lips pressed calmly to her own. When they separated, Ruby shook her head with an unspoken plea to ignore her earlier frown. Weiss felt a sense of calm wash over her aura and knew that Ruby was it's source. She nodded and relaxed, opening the bond she shared with Ruby to allow the wash of emotion and thought to flow openly through her mind and body.

At first Ruby seemed surprised, but then her aura flared warmly and Weiss felt the boundary from where her aura ended and Ruby's begin blur and disappear. It was completely identical to the feeling she'd had the night before Ruby had left on assignment all those months ago. But this time she recognized it for what it was.

 _Ruby, I love you._ Weiss simply had to think the sentiment and she received a response in kind from Ruby almost instantaneously. It was similar to when they fought in the arena together but so much more intimate.

 _I know this isn't good, Weiss. But if I'm going to share my aura with anybody, I'm glad it's you._ Ruby's thought echoed through their connection as if it were spoken subconsciously.

Neither girl thought anything after that, simply immersing themselves in the feeling of their aura bond. Weiss felt it almost seem to twine around Ruby's as if it were a tangible thing. And that's when she felt she could control it. She tested the theory by reaching even farther into Ruby's aura and a wave of heat seemed to wash over her as every nerve in her body seemed to become sensitive.

Ruby gasped as she undoubtedly felt the same wave wash over herself. She only drew the eyes of her sister who lost interest almost immediately. Weiss felt Ruby's aura reach deep into her own as a reciprocal of Weiss's actions. Weiss felt a small shiver rise on Ruby's skin and knew that she'd also gotten a taste of her aura. Ruby's thoughts were blissful as she relaxed their bond so it faded into the background of Weiss's mind. Weiss let it slip, knowing that the bond would resurface when it was needed. Hopefully now, she'd be able to use Ruby's semblance without so much strain on her aura.

As if he'd read her thoughts, Ozpin straightened his back to address the entire group. "We'll be touching down in a small forest next to White Castle. Intelligence has reported a large gathering of grimm that has taken a guarding position around the walls. Inside, we expect to meet heavy resistance. There is only one area that weapons of mass destruction the scale of a missile may be launched, so our target is simple."

"Sir, I get that we're good, but we're not that good." Blake interjected. "We can't take down an army on our own."

"No, you can't. That's why I've brought… an old friend on board." Ozpin said smoothly. "You'll be meeting him once we land."

"Just don't shoot the crazy asshole." Qrow grunted. "Torchwick will also be there. Once you get inside, he'll set one of those large robots on a rampage."

"What do you mean rampage?" Weiss asked, concern heavy in her tone. "And who's this friend?"

"Your guess is as good as mine on the first one." Qrow shrugged. "And the guy looks like he's more grimm than man, but don't let that fool you. He's a monster in his own right."

"And we're supposed to work with him?" Ren asked skeptically.

"Yes. He's providing the army you'll need to breach the outer walls." Ozpin stated. "We'll be there to assist you, but please just remember not to play a hero. Trust your teammates."

"That, and millions of people will die if we fail." Ruby mumbled in the quiet.

"And there's that, but try not to worry too much." Qrow laughed grimly as the aircraft began its descent. He took the flask from his pocket and took a long swig before replacing it and returning his attention to the exterior.


	16. Bloody Snow: Chapter 16

"Don't attack the grimm and they'll ignore you." Ozpin instructed as he lead the large group through what seemed to be a small legion of grimm. It wouldn't need half the creatures there to overrun the outpost that Ruby had been stationed at and that was ignoring the fact that most of the creatures seemed to be mutated with crystals of dust growing from their hides.

"That's something you don't hear every day." Yang mumbled as she edged around a large alpha beowolf that was glaring silently at them with it's unblinking red eyes.

Ozpin led the group to a small area that was clear except for two large grimm standing above something that appeared to be human. At least what a human would look like after it's dead body had been sitting in a damp cellar for a little too long.

"Ah, children! Come, come!" The body spoke energetically as it gestured with its frail arm excitedly. "I've just created a new species that should serve our purpose today quite well!"

"Merlot. Been busy as usual, I see." Ozpin stated. "What monstrosities have you cursed the world with this time?"

"Oz, old chum… did someone urinate in your cornflakes this morning?" Merlot responded with a snap. "These creatures are the future!"

"Just get on with it." Qrow interjected quickly. "We're burning daylight."

"Very well…" Merlot turned to the mutated Ursa and the nevermore that sat before him. He made a few strange growls and the group jumped back as the Nevermore literally tried to rip the Ursa apart with its claws and beak while the large bear stood still as if it couldn't tell it was being ripped apart. When Merlot made one last snarl, the Ursa seemed to shake as it roared. A green substance exited it's mouth and splattered over the nevermore that shrieked and attempted to take to the air. The creature never made it.

The group watched in equal parts awe and horror as the nevermore crashed into the ground, the green sludge smoking dreadfully as it literally disintegrated the creature before their eyes. Behind the beak, it's red eye seemed to shift, giving evidence of it's continued survival even as most of its wings and torso were burned off.

"That is how you'll get into White Castle." Merlot explained. "This acid is approximately a hundred times stronger than the strongest acid known to man. Not that mankind knows much in this field."

Qrow growled as Merlot laughed as if he'd just told a particularly interesting joke. Ozpin gripped Qrow's shoulder for a moment before addressing the madman.

"As much as I admit it could prove to be a problem, now is not the time to discuss it." Ozpin said to the group. "What have your spies observed?"

"Ah, business as usual Oz?" Merlot sighed with a theatric shake of his head. "Very well, there is a veritable legion of grimm between this forest and the wall. I have taken control of about five percent of those creatures and have only been able to modify one percent to their enhanced states. All things considered, I feel I did a miraculous job."

"Then give the order to move out. I want Nevermores taking out the other avian creatures as a first priority. Send your beowolves and boarbatusks ahead as the first wave and the ursi as the second-" Ozpin was cut off by a disappointed clucking from Merlot.

"No, the ursi will go with the beowolves as the second wave. Deathstalkers will follow your team as the rearguard." Merlot snapped impatiently. "You go after the ursi."

"If you plan to double-cross us, know that there will be dire consequences." Ozpin warned as the creatures around them all started to move.

"Must you have so little faith Oz?" Merlot asked as the group followed Ozpin and Qrow who mingled into the grimm as they walked away. "The last time didn't work out so well for me if you'll remember."

"RWBY, JNPR, be careful of Merlot's creatures. They are still grimm, and they will kill you." Ozpin said solemnly as the group neared the edge of the forest. "They are our allies for the moment, but that may change."

"Kill 'em back. Yup, yup!" Nora spoke as she drew her weapon.

Just then, a massive roar exploded around them as the creatures standing around them went wild with rage and sprinted away from the trees to the massive white fort that stood only a kilometre away. A responding roar was heard that vibrated through the ground as the defending army acknowledged the challenge and responded to the attackers.

"Ruby, load the prototype explosives." Weiss instructed as she readied her own weapon. She saw Pyrrha also check her rifle and Ren nod as Jaune made a motion to the clip he was about to load. Ren switched it to another one before locking them into his weapons.

"Alright teams, this is your operation." Ozpin stated as he waited for the last of the second wave to rush past. "Qrow and myself will provide assistance to the second wave and attempt to maintain an exit point for you."

"How long do you think we have?" Ruby asked as she checked her frictionless locking bolt for the third time to make sure the first round was already loaded.

"Depending on how much resistance you have waiting on the other side of the wall, a maximum of sixty minutes." Ozpin said. "After that you'll need to find another exit that is less guarded."

"Then let's do this!" Jaune announced with nods from the rest of his team and Ruby's.

"Good luck teams. Remnant is counting on you!" Ozpin said as the teams ran forward to the hole that Merlot's creatures were slowly punching through the defending grimm. He stood there a minute and felt a presence approach him from behind. "You weren't expecting to run from this fight, were you Merlot?"

The demented man sighed wistfully as he took his spot beside Ozpin. "A younger, more foolish version of myself would do just that. But, alas, I have grown weary of this existence."

"And your creatures?" Ozpin asked as he heard the rustling of at least a hundred massive deathstalkers approach and halt behind their general.

"My control is growing weaker as we speak." Merlot sighed. "They will make it to the wall and possibly inside, but not much further. These creatures are different from when I last worked on them."

"And yet you plan to join our attack?" Ozpin asked just to make sure.

"Oh, yes. There is something poetic about being destroyed by your children, isn't there?" Merlot asked with a dark chuckle.

"Ozpin, it's time." Qrow spoke as he came through a gap between deathstalkers. "I've set up the communications array."

"Good." Ozpin turned back to Merlot one final time, inspecting the damage that years of experimenting had done to his physique. "I won't lie and say you are not a monster, but for this you've earned my respect." Merlot simply nodded and walked forward, leading the deathstalkers into the battle. Ozpin drew his scroll and quickly opened communications with his two teams. "RWBY, JNPR? Begin your assault."

* * *

The teams rushed forward into the swarms of grimm, keeping a close formation as they navigated the chaos that was going around them. As they ran, Merlot's creatures viciously attacked the other grimm, tearing body parts off the defending creatures and sending them to their graves. It was shocking how efficient the creatures were being in comparison to their normal behaviour. It meant that a fight with the small army was one that every member of their group hoped to avoid, even if Ozpin's warning had told them it was a very likely occurrence.

"Veer left!" Pyrrha shouted as a massive nevermore with glowing blue feathers screeched and fell to their right, exploding and freezing everything within a few meters of it's impact.

The group cowered as shards of ice rained over them, a larger spike ripping the head off a boarbatusk that was unlucky enough to roll into it's trajectory. The team continued to run, dodging around the grim that were too focused on fighting the larger mutated army to register the small humans that moved past. At least for the time being.

In the sky, nevermores and griffons fought viciously, falling out of the air and crushing their friends and foes alike when they were too hurt to remain airborne. Smoke was already rolling in thick as the field turned into a massive grave for hundreds of grimm, making visibility run low and the stark glow of the mutated grimm stand out almost eerily against the backdrop. Explosions of varying colors flashing through the smoke gave evidence to the steady destruction of the attacking army.

"Ruby, Ren! Get above the smoke! Clear us a path!" Jaune ordered as he moved to guard Pyrrha with Nora, and Blake and Yang moved to guard Weiss.

"I'll summon a glyph for you to stand on once you're up." Weiss told Ruby who nodded and knelt on the glyph Weiss had already summoned.

"Now!" Jaune shouted as Weiss released her glyph to send Ruby skyward just as Pyrrha pushed Ren with a boost from her semblance, sending him far above them.

Ruby landed on the glyph and quickly oriented herself to the surroundings. They were more than half way to the wall and very close to the front line of Merlot's grimm that seemed to be at a stalemate. She quickly fired off a few rounds near the edge of the line to give an opening as Ren fired StormFlower. Together it took a little under two seconds to literally bombard the entire path to the wall with enough explosive rounds to kill every grimm within the ten meter wide area. Their friendly creatures didn't hesitate to rush in and fill the gap before it closed, giving them a good hole to work with.

Ruby landed next to Ren beside the group who immediately followed the two as they moved forward down the path they'd made while reloading their weapons. Weiss darted forward with a glyph and disarmed a beowolf that lunged from the sidelines, making it yelp as it tripped and tumbled into an Ursa that was following. The creature's head was crushed by the Ursa's foot a second later as a sharp scream tore through the air.

"Time to move guys!" Yang shouted as she pointed in the sky to what looked like a swarm of black specks.

Everyone moved behind the larger grimm to take cover as the razor sharp tips of the nevermore attack rained down, spearing the creatures and allowing those who had avoided the attack to move in and decimate the victims.

"Keep moving!" Pyrrha shouted as she unsteadily took to her feet. A deep gash leaked blood from her upper arm and a massive scrape on her shield told them that she had barely avoided the attack.

The group moved forward as one, readjusting the vanguards to those best suited to quick reactions and close quarters combat. Ruby spun through more grimm than the others as Weiss, Yang, and Ren all punched a large hole through the middle of the battle, sending friend and foe alike to the ground.

It didn't take long for Merlot's creatures to start moving out of the way as the hunters and huntresses passed, allowing them to eliminate the opposition and push the line forward.

"How far are we?" Ruby asked with a huff as she decapitated another beowolf. Weiss withdrew her rapier from a boarbatusk and sent an ursa stumbling by slashing it's leg tendon.

"I'd say we still have at least a few hundred meters to go." She replied as their team moved forward.

"Ruby, Weiss, take a break!" Jaune ordered as he moved forward with Nora. "We've got something planned."

Ruby fell back and Weiss followed, joining Blake who was defending Pyrrha as she repaired her damaged arm with a small sprinkle of burn dust.

"There… ah…" Pyrrha gasped as she flexed her elbow.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked as Ruby darted out to kill a grimm that was following a little too closely.

"It hurts but I'll be fine." Pyrrha grimaced. "I might not be much help at the moment though."

"Alright, just don't take any risks." Ruby ordered as she returned.

They all turned forward as Nora's cackling overpowered the raging battle and she fired an electric round from her launcher straight at Jaune's shield.

Weiss looked on curiously as the shield took on a blue glow before firing a bolt of electricity back at Nora who seemed to take flight as she launched herself forward while transforming her weapon.

"Hit the dirt!" Jaune yelled, pulling Yang to the ground as everyone else mirrored him.

An explosion ripped out in front of the group as lightning arced between creatures, setting some on fire and simply popping the heads of others while still others flew through the air as projectiles.

"Go! Now!" Jaune ordered again as he pushed himself up and moved into the very thin group of disoriented grimm towards the explosion. The group followed him to find Nora smashing the grimm around her with her hammer as if she were simply toying with them.

"Let's go Nora!" Ren called as he ran past and Nora followed without hesitation, leaving the grimm she'd just sent to the ground to the allied army at their backs.

The howls and roars were deafening as they moved, dodging the creatures that charged the front line as best they could. Ruby cut down the creatures she couldn't avoid and was saved by Weiss who summoned a glyph to repel a rather large beowolf that had broken through by rending two of it's smaller brethren to shreds.

"Yang, tip of the spear!" Ruby ordered while looking to the others. "Jaune, Pyrrha, flank Yang!"

The group adjusted its formation quickly as they hit the last mob of the defending creatures. Behind them, they heard the roar of a small pack of ursi that seemed to understand their task was beginning. They moved forward, outrunning the team and ignoring the enemies that took swipes at their thick armour as they approached the monolithic wall before them. With one last roar, the creatures literally exploded into acid that quickly ate through the wall while the teams defended their position.

"Ozpin, Qrow, we've breached the wall." Jaune reported after running his sword through the neck of a beowolf and blocking an attack from a small ursa. "Don't think this exit will work for long."

"Good work teams." Ozpin replied. "Continue on inside. Torchwick will meet you at the nearby transit area. Qrow, move in to guard the breach."

* * *

The faint echo of growls died as it moved down the halls, but that didn't mean the woman didn't know what was happening.

"Merc… how are the final round of warheads coming?" She asked lazily while she kicked her swaying legs from the table she sat atop of.

"Listen, I'm no Emerald. She was the explosive technician. I'm more of a hands on type myself." He replied impatiently. "Which wire do you think I put here?"

"The second blue one, obviously." She replied with a sigh. "I've told you that four times already."

"Yeah well, if you want three of these bombs, you're going to tell me at least two more times." Mercury responded. "And what happened to that guy with the cane?"

"Torchwick? He's gone to make sure that our defenses are solid. He's gone to check that Paladin that I had him repair one last time." She replied with shrug and a smirk. "I just hope he realizes that he's not getting paid for this, seeing as the world will end soon."

"You're cold. Remind me never to piss you off." Mercury mumbled as he fused the wire to it's contact. "There. That one is done."

"Good boy." The woman smiled as she picked up the large board. She placed a fist sized black crystal in the metal seat in the middle of the board and the lines of copper quickly started glowing with the amount of energy running through it. "It's funny how such a small device could create so much damage."

"Whatever you say Cinder. Just put it in the casing before you drop it." Mercury instructed nervously.

Cinder saw this and smiled before approaching the mounting bracket for the circuitry. She placed it in and slid the cover closed.


	17. Bloody Snow: Chapter 17

The hunters didn't stop to catch their breath as they moved through the empty halls of the outer perimeter of White Castle. Now more than ever it was obvious why this was one of humanity's fortresses during the great war. It was undoubtedly a labyrinth with the traps and dead ends to prove it.

"Go straight here." Jaune instructed as he watched the map on his scroll.

Everyone followed him as he turned down the halls that were outfitted with hundreds of alcoves that would provide perfect cover for defenders. The place was literally built to withstand a siege of unfathomable proportions, and according to history, it had done just that. Twice.

"Whoa!" Jaune shouted as he stopped, teetering on the edge of a pit where the bottom was lined with spikes. He slowly stepped back as he looked back at the map. "Sorry, that should have been a straight, not a right."

"Be careful Jaune." Pyrrha warned worriedly gripping his arm.

"Yeah." Jaune nodded before waving everyone to follow him again, this time at a slightly slower pace.

This time it didn't take long to find themselves entering a large chamber with a few busses much like the one they'd used on their last trip to the castle. Ruby quickly scanned the area and found that it was empty save a table that was hidden slightly behind one of the busses. She barely made out the shape of a man before he leaned forward over the table.

"Blake, Ren." She pointed and the two nodded, moving quickly and silently while the others followed slowly so as not to be noticed.

Ren used the reflective edge of his weapon's blade to see around the corner. At the table sat two White Fang members with large rifles, and with their back to them sat Torchwick swirling a glass of amber liquid in one hand and holding a set of cards in the other.

"I still don't see why we have to guard this place." The White Fang member on the left said as he dropped his hand to the table and leaned back again while cracking his neck.

"Just do what the boss lady says. At least she's not here to give us shit about gambling during our watch." The one on the right responded.

"Hey, it's not like anyone's going to get past this castle's AA batteries and there's no damn way to get through that many grimm." The one on the left said almost disappointedly.

"I heard that only half as many attacked Vale and the whole kingdom had to evacuate." The other one replied. "It was on the news… something like two thousand hunters showed to fight. There's no way that many are attacking here. And even if there were, there's no way anyone would get past that many grimm."

As they talked, Blake slipped behind one of them in a crouch. Torchwick's eyes met hers before moving away to his drink. He raised it to his lips as Ren also stealthily moved behind the other White Fang member.

"You don't need to kill the grimm if they don't see you." Blake said. The effect was immediate, both White Fang members reached for their weapons and turned as Ren and Blake hit them hard in their heads before laying their unconscious bodies over the table.

Torchwick tipped his glass upside down on the table and picked up the lien sitting in the middle. "Couldn't have waited till they bet a bit more, huh?"

"We're not here to assist your gambling." Weiss said as the rest of the group joined Torchwick.

"Right. You want a distraction." He sighed while reaching into his jacket. He withdrew a remote with a single button and placed it on the table. "Press that and the Paladin will start attacking everything in sight. Press it again and the robot will explode. It's outside your destination with a small army of Fang."

"Thank you." Blake nodded as Torchwick readjusted his hat and picked his cane off the edge of the table.

"Don't thank me. I just work for the highest bidder." Torchwick grinned. "Today, that just so happens to be you."

He walked to another exit at the side of the hall as Weiss picked up the remote.

"I'll take this for now." She announced to the group as they started to board the nearby bus with Yang taking the drivers seat.

Ruby made sure everyone got on before following.

"Hey!"

Ruby froze and turned with one foot on the bus. Torchwick was looking back from the doorway.

"It's the end of the line, Red." He threw a dust crystal towards her and disappeared to the hallway. Ruby caught the crystal before boarding.

"What's that?" Weiss asked as Yang set the bus in motion and Ruby sat in the seat next to her fiance.

"Burn, uncut." Ruby said as she looked through the red crystal at Weiss. "It's the same one that he almost killed me with that time when I stopped his robbery and Ozpin gave me admission to Beacon."

"I see." Weiss thought. "Does this mean anything?"

"I don't think so." Ruby replied, handing the crystal over to Weiss who added it to her extra supplies. "Might be of use though."

Yang drove down the road toward the turn that had a small wooden barricade with a few White Fang members guarding it. The bus they were driving wasn't much of a tank, but even it would be able to drive through it. Whether or not all the tires survived would be another question.

"Everyone hold on!" Yang called back as she hit the brakes and turned, still going fast enough to scare the soldiers from their posts and destroy the barricade before trundling on toward the building with a massive mechanical war machine standing in front of it.

"Yang! RPGs!" Pyrrha shouted, pointing to the small army that blocked the road ahead.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked, holding the remote out to her leader.

"Don't hit it yet." Ruby said as she leaned forward toward her sister. "Yang! Tell us when."

"Hold on!" Yang shouted loudly as she slammed on the brakes and then swerved as a trail of propellant marked the air next to them. "Hold on…"

The group watched as Yang pulled her glasses out of her pocket and placed them over her eyes. She slammed on the accelerator, sending her sister back to her seat as the bus charged forward with unexpected power. The dust engine in the rear roared under the strain, but Yang ignored it as she watched the distant army.

"Yang!" Weiss yelled as she caught a glimpse of a distant flash and plume of smoke that could only be the launch of another rocket propelled grenade. Then three more followed the first, racing toward them.

"Hold on…" Yang grinned as she yanked the wheel to the side, making the bus wobble as it flew off the road and onto the thick growth for a second before Yang pulled the vehicle back onto the road. The explosions behind them signalled that Yang's timing had been perfect, although the groans from the teams gave evidence that the sudden rough driving had thrown at least a few from their seats.

"Yang, you won't be able to dodge those things soon!" Pyrrha warned as she pulled herself up to the front of the bus.

"Then push them out of the way!" Yang replied as another salvo of rockets left new plumes of smoke on the approaching army.

Pyrrha summoned her semblance as Yang accelerated even faster. Pyrrha waited, harnessing each of the eight speeding grenades in her semblances grip and pushed them gently out of the way of the bus where they flew past to explode harmlessly in the undergrowth.

"Pyrrha, rest!" Jaune ordered as he checked his scroll and found Pyrrha's aura dropping to the red danger zone.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she used her weapon's scope to zoom in on the army's front line. "They're reloading!"

"Just hold on!" Yang replied, pushing the dust engine even harder as they sped up to the machine's maximum speed.

"I'm pressing it!" Weiss announced, taking the remote back from her leader.

"Wait!" Yang shouted, turning back for a second to look Weiss in the eyes before quickly returning to her driving. "Wait a little longer."

"They're shooting!" Ruby warned as fresh plumes of smoke bloomed from the shoulders of the now visible White Fang militants.

"Hit the button!" Yang shouted as she once again pulled the bus to the side, barely missing the first dozen RPGs. "Everyone, out!"

Yang punched the window next to her, popping the plastic out of the frame and jumped out, leaving everyone to stare at the empty driver seat.

"GO!" Ruby and Jaune screamed as they made their own exit holes and jumped from the speeding deathtrap as it veered off the road and onto the rough overgrowth. Weiss pressed the button as she jumped, following Ruby and using her glyphs to slow them before they hit the ground, rolling to dissipate their momentum.

Weiss glanced around at a comically slow moving image as hundreds of faunus wearing masks charged and some turned to flee from the path of the bus. Around them, Weiss saw Jaune helping Pyrrha to her feet and Ren holding Nora as he used his aura to cushion his landing.

"Move!" Blake pushed Weiss and Ruby forward as she joined them, drawing her weapon.

They were about to meet the army when a wave of cries echoed from near the rear as the large mechanized beast of destruction started unleashing it's wrath on the faunus, sending bodies flying with explosives and cutting them down with it's massive gatling cannons.

Blake dodged the first few combatants and tripped another to block an attack for her. Ruby and Weiss followed, cutting down the few militants that posed a threat as they ran toward the building that was admittedly a lot closer than they'd expected. Yang could be heard somewhere to their left but they couldn't see her except for the odd faunus taking to the air after one of her signature uppercuts.

JNPR was also faring well as they pushed forward toward the building, especially considering Pyrrha was barely fighting as she allowed her aura to rest in case they'd need it. Possibly the most surprising thing was Jaune's swordplay which seemed leagues better than it had started out back when he'd first started at Beacon. But even so, the two teams were barely making headway as wave after wave of White Fang soldiers rushed at them with their common issue dust swords and spears.

"This isn't working!" Weiss shouted as she slashed the throat of one of the faunus who's attack had come a little too close for comfort.

"What do you suggest Princess?" Yang replied, as she joined the team, sending a militant who was about to attack Blake from the rear flying into a group of his allies.

"Remember initiation?" Weiss asked as she froze a group of men to the ground with her ice dust. She turned and shot fire dust at another group who recoiled at the sudden heat wave.

"I see what you're planning." Ruby interjected as she spun into a close-knit group, sending limbs and bodies alike flying in all directions.

"Yang, get ready!" Weiss ordered, withdrawing from her battle as much as she could. "Blake, throw your ribbon to Pyrrha!"

"On it!" Blake quickly decimated the attackers she was fighting with the assistance of her semblance and threw her weapon to Pyrrha who caught it with her semblance and pulled it tight as everyone else defended the plan of attack.

"Yang!" Weiss called, pulling up a glyph a few feet back from the tight ribbon.

Yang knocked her current opponent out and ran full tilt back toward Weiss while slipping her shades back on. She grabbed the Ribbon and flipped over it, landing crouched on the glyph as it locked her feet in place. She pulled the ribbon as far as she could and Weiss released the glyph sending Yang forward through the crowd. Ren moved in behind her, spraying his weapon's ammunition into the crowd as Yang did the same while flying past the militants.

Everyone moved into the narrow alley Yang had created, meeting up with the brawler without much difficulty. Ruby spun, making the White Fang retreat at the threat of lost limbs, giving the group more space.

"Everyone up!" Weiss ordered, as an explosion shook the ground they stood on. The robot was still rampaging, though it seemed to have taken heavy damage already.

Ren grabbed onto Nora who used her weapon in it's gun form to run up the wall in front of them to the flat roof of the one story building. Weiss helped Jaune, and Ruby helped Pyrrha and Blake, both using Weiss's semblance to extricate themselves from the battle. Yang jumped and used her gauntlets to give her a boost and punch her fist into the wall three quarters of the way to the roof and then created her own handholds to climb as Blake used her ribbon to pull herself to the roof.

Everyone on the roof who could was bombarding the White Fang with bullets and dust, giving Yang cover as she finally reached the ledge and pulled herself over. Everyone ducked from the edge as Yang simply lay on the roof, catching her breath.

"That was a thing." She spoke as she finally sat up to find everyone else in much the same state as herself.

"Come on, we have to get moving again." Ruby said as she cautiously peeked over the edge. "The robot just went down and they're already moving to the stairs. We have a few minutes before they get here though."

"Where'd the robot fall?" Ren asked as he looked over the edge, finding no wreckage anywhere.

"Directly below the ledge on the corner here." Ruby said. "Jaune, where's a place in this structure that would be able to fire long range missiles?"

"That would be…" Jaune was already checking the maps he'd been given. "About half way down the structure there's a retractable ceiling and a roof access ladder below a hatch that will get us down into the neighbouring room."

"Alright! Let's go kick some butt!" Nora fist pumped as she started to lead the group past the countless HVAC units that lined the roof. It didn't take long to find the hatch, nor did it take long to drop down the ladder into the small storage room who's door lead out into another room. The problem was, that room was filled with White Fang members who looked much more experienced than the soldiers they'd fought on their approach to the building. One man with an elongated sword with a chainsaw attachment grinned as he revved the chain to full speed as if he'd been waiting for the intrusion. Pyrrha stepped forward only to be blocked by Nora's arm.

"Stop. It's hammer time." She mumbled as she transformed her weapon with her free hand and gave it a spin.

"CHARGE!" One of the White Fang members shouted and the room exploded into noise. The man with the chainsaw rushed forward and Nora moved to meet him, the spinning chain clashing with her hammer's dust-enhanced swing with a huge concussive force that deafened those in the immediate vicinity and pushed those surrounding them back a few feet from the concussive shock wave.

"You dare challenge the Queen!?" Nora shouted maniacally. "Off with your head!"


	18. Bloody Snow: Chapter 18

**A/N:**

 **Before you read this chapter, just a couple things to note:**

 **1) There is one more chapter and an epilogue after this.**

 **2) This is always where the story was headed since the very 1st volume.**

* * *

"Get to the next room, we'll cover you!" Jaune ordered Ruby as he pushed her toward the wall next to them. He pulled a small packet from his belt and tossed it to the other leader who immediately recognized it as a dust charge. Ruby fixed it on the wall and pressed the start button as the battle started raging behind them. Yang and Blake had become preoccupied with their own battles as JNPR fought to keep Ruby safe while she set the charge.

"Weiss, on me!" Ruby ordered. "Yang, Blake, you're with JNPR!"

"Gotcha, sis!" Yang grunted as she planted her fist into a man's head and fired her gauntlet, sending him crashing to the ground where he hit his head on the concrete and lay still.

Weiss froze her opponent to the ground and jumped back as the dust charge detonated, sending a cloud of concrete and plaster into the air. Weiss followed Ruby through the haze and into the empty next room. Lined up along the far wall were exactly three large metal pillars which were most definitely their targets.

"Ruby, careful." Weiss warned as she scanned the room for movement. There was none, but the feeling she was being watched tickled the back of her neck as if a second sense was warning her.

Ruby moved forward, placing herself in the middle of the room. She took in the hatches on the missiles and noted that the last one was still open and appeared empty as if there was still something that needed to be placed inside.

"The last one is unarmed." Weiss stated as she took in the same information, looking for a computer nearby but finding none. "Where's the launch console?"

"Do you honestly think we'd leave something as important as that lying around?" A husky female voice asked as a woman with glowing orange eyes and a blood red dress rounded one of the missiles. "You're just in time to see the end of Remnant's suffering, so there's no need for those weapons."

The woman summoned some form of glass-like shards in the air and sent them toward the two huntresses who dodged the first round easily but the second one hit their weapons, knocking them out of their hands.

Ruby and Weiss exchanged a glance at the surprise attack but more curious as to why there hadn't been a followup. The woman walked forward toward the small table that was seated next to the unarmed missile and leaned on its edge.

"Forgive my rude greeting. My name is Cinder Fall." She announced theatrically, making a ball of fire appear in her hand where she held it before letting it dissipate. When she didn't receive an answer, she sighed. "No need to introduce yourselves. Weiss Schnee is hardly an uncommon figure on the news, and Ruby Rose her scheming lover has also gotten a fair bit of coverage. Now you can both just relax as the world you know crumbles and a new utopia is born."

Behind them, the sounds of battle raged on, the explosive force from Nora's hammer clearly distinctive from the other noises which mixed together. Ruby knew they were running out of time when she heard the roof begin to retract.

"No! That's not going to happen!" Ruby asserted in response. Her hands balled into fists at her side, bringing a victorious grin to Cinder's face.

"Oh, I think it is. And there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it."

Ruby felt her aura entwine with Weiss's and the mental connection opened immediately as Ruby started conversing with Weiss.

 _We need to find the computer. It's probably a laptop of some sort._ Ruby thought as she glared at Cinder, noting the exact position of her weapon in her peripheral vision. _Jaune said it would have to be very close to remotely link with the missiles._

 _It's probably hidden behind the missile on the right since the exhaust would overheat the system._ Weiss responded. _If you can cover me, I can get behind them and find it. Then we might need Jaune to shut it down._

 _Let's take care of step one first._ Ruby agreed. _On three._

Ruby counted down and time slowed as she felt her aura activate her semblance as Weiss activated it at the same time. Ruby dove for her weapon, spinning it's blade into the concrete floor and firing off as many rounds as fast as she could at Cinder who responded by lazily deflecting them with what looked like a projection of her aura. Weiss had flipped her rapier back into her hand and moved around Cinder who didn't give her so much as a second glance before she rounded the last missile.

Weiss saw a flash of white and then blackness and pain as she rebounded from whatever had hit her. Her vision came back quickly, still under the influence of Ruby's semblance and she was able to turn her fall into a roll back to her feet. She turned to see the same man that had been in the room when Yang had been kidnapped with his foot outstretched where he'd obviously kicked her in the head. In his hands were two small, curved blades. The grin on his face told her that he thought his opponents posed no threat.

"My turn." Cinder spoke calmly as she materialized a bow from the same shards she'd used to disarm her attackers.

Weiss remained focused on the man who'd kicked her as Ruby removed her scythe from the ground. On closer inspection, his stance seemed to draw her eyes to the blades in his hands which was odd considering her style of swordplay. She pointedly looked down to find the man's legs seemed a little odd.

 _I'll keep Cinder busy._ Ruby thought as she sped up to Cinder who fired one arrow which missed Ruby completely. She twirled her scythe with her semblance but Cinder matched her strikes with her bow as if it were a staff.

Weiss focused her breathing as the man took a step toward her. She carefully stepped to the side and they started circling each other. The moment didn't last long as the man closed the space to attack. Weiss blocked the kick with a glyph and countered just to be blocked by his knives. The man jumped back with a smirk and a nod. Weiss spun her dust cartridge randomly and moved in for her strike.

* * *

Jaune hit a man wielding a long katana with his shield, forcing him to stumble. Pyrrha's spear sliced through his neck with ease before he managed to recover. The two looked around to see the others holding their own duels which seemed to be going fairly well. Yang had already beaten four assailants that lay motionless on the ground behind her and Blake seemed to be duelling five at once with more than a few of her shadow clones. Ren had already sliced through his opponents, leaving no less than eight bodies and several pulped masses in his wake. And Nora alone seemed to still be duelling her first opponent as the shocks of energy shook the ground and air like a stuttering heartbeat, keeping those who would interfere away with the waves of pure concussive force.

"Jaune, look!" Pyrrha pointed to the hole behind them.

What Jaune saw seemed almost improbable, though he was honestly relieved at the somewhat unexpected sight.

Blurs of red and white were visible in two separate fights as rose petals fell from their friends' forms as their weapons moved at almost impossible speed. Glyphs blocked and redirected attacks in both blue and pink hues around Ruby and Weiss. It was almost as if they could use each other's semblance.

"It looks like they're in a stalemate." Jaune observed as the fight continued. He dodged another attacker and blocked the followup with his shield. He quickly ran his sword through the woman's leg, sending her to the ground before he moved back to Ruby and Weiss's fight. "Pyrrha, keep everyone here."

"Jaune?" Pyrrha questioned as she dispatched another foe. She saw Jaune retreat to the hole in the wall and hesitate.

"Yang! Blake!" He shouted, getting the girls attention even as they continued their duels. "On your team. We'll cover you."

"Gotcha!" Yang replied as she planted her fist into her opponent's ribcage and fired her gauntlet's round, tearing a hole clean through the unfortunate faunus.

Blake replied by doubling the number of her clones and then slitting the throats of her attackers while they were distracted. She appeared next to Yang as she climbed through the hole to assist her teammates.

"Ren! On Nora!" Jaune ordered as he tackled another White Fang member with his shield as he chased after Yang and Blake. He plunged his sword into the man's chest, leaving him choking on his own blood as he moved to close the hole in the perimeter Yang and Blake had left. "Pyrrha, fall back!"

Pyrrha complied as she dodged a large metal canister that landed at her feet. She used her semblance to throw it back over the crowd of enemies just as it detonated, spraying molten metal fragments every which way. She felt lucky that the timing was so perfect and slightly surprised at Jaune's timing.

The concussive blasts stopped as a cackling Nora screamed one final 'off with your head' and a wet cracking noise was heard that could only be the crushing of her opponents skull.

"What's the plan?" Ren asked as he rejoined the group. The White Fang seemed to be wary of pressing their assault and simply waited out of range of the team while more of their comrades entered through the far door and filled the room behind them.

"Nobody passes." Jaune replied as he focused on the feeling he'd had back in the arena when he'd fought the hulking man who seemed stronger than a tank. "And keep an eye on your aura."

"Right." Ren nodded, noticing that his aura was already matching Pyrrha's levels of depletion.

"CHARGE!" One of the Lieutenant's screamed from near the rear of the assembling army, sending the wave of soldiers at JNPR.

Jaune let loose his own battle cry and rushed forward, leading his team to the onslaught. Over the next few seconds Jaune had taken at least twelve lives and barely missed death more than twenty times as the soldiers seemed to move in a craze of movement almost as if their minds were set on killing the defending team at any cost. But Jaune didn't have time to think about that.

Pyrrha was at his side, her spear spinning in her hand as she fended off the attacks with the skill expected of the competition winning huntress. She came close to decapitating on every swipe and never missed her targets even as they attempted to rush past. Pyrrha used her shield to trip and stumble her enemies and even once hit one in the throat hard enough to break their spine.

Ren and Nora on the far side of their makeshift line of defence teamed up on their kills, Nora sending the enemies stumbling and Ren following up with his bladed weapons, using both his machine guns to drain aura and the knives to conserve ammunition. It was like watching an assembly line, or more accurately a disassembly line seeing as Ren's kills often seemed to drop in more of a dis-repaired state than they arrived in.

Jaune spun his blade in his hand as he moved to block an attack coming to his side with his shield. He thrust the sword backward and felt it run through the enemy who'd missed the attack. He withdrew it and turned just as a hail of bullets ripped through an opening in the crowd.

Jaune crouched behind his shield as the bullets ricocheted off into the crowd, killing not a few of the attackers, but the hail didn't stop. He remained there, fending off the terrific recoil that shook his whole body while the deflected bullets kept others from attacking his unmoving form. As he braced himself, Jaune felt the fire of what he knew now to be his semblance take hold and he pushed himself forward in his crouch, fighting as the recoil worsened with each step. He took step after step, the attackers parting in front of him as he pushed his way to the chain gun that had him pinned down.

"AHHH!" He yelled as he bashed his shield into the barrel, sending it spinning away from him as he swung his sword in a large arc, the blade glowing bright white as it sliced through everything within reach including the gun's operator and the gun itself that exploded, sending him flying back toward the wall and his team.

He landed unsteadily and turned to see that even with all the fighting, there were still more members of the White Fang pouring in.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune called as he pushed forward toward the door. "I'll be right back!"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed, seeing Jaune rush forward into the attacking force and disappear. She slowly fell back as she was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and the feeling of her aura finally deplete as she was forced to deflect a sword that came too close for comfort. Another sword left a scratch down her arm as she thrust her spear into the attacker's head, ending his life.

Pyrrha fell back as another attack hit her exhausted shield arm and sent her stumbling. The aura levels on her scroll were all in the danger zone, and she noticed Nora take a hit from a man with a club. Ren jumped in and killed him, but not before taking a bad hit from an unarmed fighter. Pyrrha watched as Jaune's aura steadily depleted and then fell empty just as her own had.

"RUN!" A scream echoed from the far side of the room a split second before a massive explosion was heard and the building shook as the ceiling started to collapse. Large pieces of concrete cracked and fell as the rebar holding it in place snapped like weak cord. The impact of the first piece falling silenced the room before screams of terror echoed through the dust that the impact had created.

"Pyrrha!" Nora yelled as she used her hammer to knock all the enemies surrounding herself and Ren back. She scooped the injured Ren over her shoulder as she moved, running to Pyrrha as she pushed herself up against the wall.

"Back to the ladder room, Nora!" Pyrrha yelled as yet more massive slabs of concrete started raining down on the room. Nora tossed Pyrrha over her other shoulder and ran, dodging one slab as it landed, crushing three soldiers to their right.

Nora dove through the doorway, throwing her teammates forward just as another slab landed, collapsing the doorway into a pile of debris and kicking up a massive wave of dust. Fortunately, the room they were now in seemed to be holding together quite well.

Coughing, the three teammates looked at their scrolls to find that Jaune appeared to still be alive, though with his aura depleted and the amount of carnage that had come from the explosion, they feared that it wouldn't last long. Even so, the three were far too exhausted to do anything other than catch their breaths and nurse their wounds for the moment.

"We have to help RWBY." Ren said after a long break to catch their breaths.

"And Jaune." Pyrrha added. Neither Nora or Ren responded as Nora pulled her last dust charge from her belt and placed it against the wall of debris.

"Boom." Nora whispered the split second before the blast pushed the debris back out into the room.

* * *

"Yang!" Weiss called as the blond climbed through the hole in the wall. "Freezer Burn!"

"Ladybug!" Ruby called almost simultaneously.

Weiss dodged another kick as Yang barrelled forward, blocking the next attack with her own and knocking one of the man's knives from his hand. Weiss used speed dust on her feet and switched her rapier to ice dust and froze the mans feet to the ground as Yang picked up her attack rhythm which kept the man busy. She moved back and quickly circled into his blind spot as Yang prepared one of her deadly right crosses. The man took advantage of the split second to turn a switch on a remote on his belt. Yang cried out in pain as her punch turned into a tackle, sending her opponent into a stumble as his feet broke free of the ice. Weiss's waiting rapier drove down through his shoulder and into his chest where the burn dust that now coated the blade ignited, sending him to the ground with a surprised and tortured look on his face as his internals were instantly boiled.

Yang continued screaming as her veins pulsed a fire red under her exposed skin, and Weiss quickly turned the switch on the dead man's remote back to it's original position and passed it to the now silent and recovering Yang while she turned back to Ruby's fight. Ruby and several of Blake's clones were all attempting to strike the other opponent down, but it still seemed to be a stalemate. Ruby swung her scythe at breakneck speeds but still was blocked again and again by the woman's bow. Blake dashed in with her weapons immediately after Ruby had been blocked only to be blocked as well before Ruby attacked again all within the space of a second.

Weiss tried thinking of something to do to help when she noticed the corner of something sticking out from a box behind the closest missile. She waved Yang over as she pulled out the laptop and found a timer already counting down the final minute, along with targeting coordinates.

"We need Jaune!" Weiss told Yang as she found the abort key locked with a password. "I'll try to change the coordinates to something that will minimize the damage, but we can't depend on it."

"I'll be right back." Yang left in a full tilt run as she jumped back through the hole in the wall she and Blake had come through. The dust made sight poor, but she could tell from the light pouring in from above that the ceiling had become the floor. She heard an explosion to her left and found three members of JNPR stumbling over the wreckage.

They all looked like they'd gone through hell, but she couldn't spot the one person she was looking for.

"Where's Jaune?" Yang asked. "There's a password on the launch console."

"He was over there." Pyrrha pointed past a large pile of wreckage. "We have to find him."

"Listen, did he give any of you something that could help?" Yang asked, hoping Jaune hadn't died in what she remembered had been a large group of White Fang.

"He gave me this, but only I know how to use it." Pyrrha started, pulling a small drive from her pocket.

"Then go find Weiss. Nora, we'll look for Jaune." Yang waved as she started climbing over the wreckage. "Oh, and Ren, see if you can help Ruby!"

"On it." Ren grabbed Pyrrha who was hesitating to go and pulled her along with him to the hole that had been created for Blake and Yang.

Yang stepped over countless bodies that were either unconscious or worse as she made her way to the door.

"Where was Jaune?" She asked, looking at the massive amount of rubble that coated everything.

"He sounded close to the doorway. Probably this way." Nora took the lead, using her scroll to track Jaune's as the noise from the opposite side of the doorway slowly got louder.

"These guys don't quit, do they?" Yang asked in frustration as she heard the rock start to shift.

"Yang! He's here!" Nora called from a corner as she tried and failed to pull a large slab of concrete away from where it was propped up. "I think I can see him."

Yang looked in a gap and couldn't believe Jaune was leaning against the wall with little more than a small gash on his head, although he didn't respond to their voices.

"Get up on top of it and use your hammer for leverage. We don't have much time until the White Fang break through." Yang instructed as she forced her elbow in behind the concrete and started straining her muscles to get it to move.

* * *

Pyrrha stumbled over to Weiss, plugging the chip Jaune had given her into one of the many slots on the side of the computer Weiss was desperately trying to reprogram.

"Which one do I use?" Weiss asked as a window popped up. "He just named them a bunch of numbers!"

"I don't know! He didn't say!" Pyrrha looked over at the hole in the wall nervously before turning back to the fight that raged on between Ruby, Blake and Cinder.

"Then all I can do is change the targets." Weiss replied, going back to her previous work.

"What if we just take the payload out?" Pyrrha asked, looking at the one open missile.

"Then it'll detonate if you're not fast enough. They're tamper proof." Weiss replied. "But we have to find the last crystal. Without it I can't disarm the last missile's secondary fuse. It'll be somewhere around here."

"What am I looking for?" Pyrrha asked as she started stepping around the body laying next to Weiss.

"It'll be a board that'll fit inside the mounting bracket. I'll keep trying to abort the launch." Weiss replied, returning to her full attention to the screen in front of her while she continued to cast worried glances at her scroll and Ruby's aura level that was now steadily depleting. "Come on!"

A loud, distant crash overpowered the noise from the ongoing battle and the sound of heavy footsteps sounded as the small hole in the wall exploded as the giant war machine they'd used as a distraction ran through as if it were nothing. Hanging from it's back was Jaune.

"Hey guys? A little help!" Jaune shouted as the person piloting took notice of him and threw him at the far wall. Pyrrha used her semblance to catch his armour before impact, but in her weakened state was unable to stop him from landing badly as the war machine fired a large round into his shield that engulfed him in an explosion.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha screamed, rushing toward the billowing smoke as the mechanical beast took aim at her.

"Pyrrha!" Weiss shouted, using Ruby's semblance to tackle her just as the shot ripped through the space she would have been running in, tearing a large hole into the outer wall of the complex.

"Not today, you prick!" Yangs shout drew attention as she jumped on the back of the machine, firing her gauntlets as she pummelled the thick armour around the cockpit of the machine. She dodged it's arm as it made to grab her, punching it down so it ended up punching itself and staggering it just as Nora came spinning onto the scene to smash the gears on one of it's legs.

"Nora!" A shout echoed through the noise as Jaune stumbled out of the smoke, his shield badly bent on one side from blocking the impact. "Bring the thunder!"

He tossed a large can through the air which Weiss recognized as a dust charge. She pulled Pyrrha up and away as Jaune hit the detonator. Lightning erupted, engulfing Nora and striking the war machine, causing its movement to stutter as the electronics temporarily overloaded. Pyrrha gasped as she picked up the missing board and placed it into the last missile.

"Wait!" Ruby shouted as she switched with Blake and Ren in her battle. "Get it to the corner!"

Weiss didn't even need to look into Ruby's mind to know what she was thinking.

"Yang!" Weiss shouted as she created a sheet of ice around her with dust.

"Gotcha!" Yang raced toward the machine as it recovered, and met it's fist with her own, causing an explosion as her gauntlet was crushed and the machine's fist was torn into shreds of scrap metal. The massive impact from the punch pushed the machine back onto the ice where it slipped onto it's back and slid to the corner of the room.

"Nora!" Jaune shouted as he raced to the console Weiss had abandoned and hit a button before sliding to a kneel.

Nora jumped into the air, landing on Jaune's shield as he pushed up to give her that last boost of height and momentum. The pink haired huntress came crashing down on the cockpit, crushing its heavy outer armour into a mass of debris that was quick to start leaking blood as the unfortunate pilot was killed.

"Weiss! Now!" Ruby ordered as she spun back into battle.

Weiss pressed the detonation button and her vision went black.

Weiss blinked as she stared up at the grey overcast sky. For a second, she wasn't sure what had happened as feeling quickly rushed back to her limbs. The walls of the room had crumbled into rubble and the missiles were tipped sideways and scarred with black smoke and scratches from the concrete. The corner that had the fallen paladin was now nothing but flaming, twisted metal and concrete debris. Around her, her friends were all shaking off the effects of the blast, Jaune already wiping dust from the laptop next to him to find a blinking error message. Seeing her job complete, Weiss turned over to where she had seen Ruby fighting.

Ruby was just visible through the haze of dust as she struggled to her feet.

Weiss felt her stomach drop as a half dozen edges of translucent material burst from the front of her chest directly below her heart. Weiss didn't feel or hear the scream that ripped from her lungs as she lunged forward to Ruby and her assailant. Her rapier forgotten as she rushed blindly into the battle.

She passed Ruby as she fell and Cinder dropped her weapon as Weiss's fist landed directly on her nose, breaking it and sending a splatter of blood to the ground.

Weiss paid it no attention as she rained blows on the villain, blocking the sluggish attacks she made as Weiss called on both her own glyphs for speed and Ruby's semblance to send the world to a crawl.

"Enough." The lone word punched through the relative silence of Weiss's attack and just as quickly a hand landed on her throat with enough force to send Weiss to her back with no air in her lungs.

"You have all made a mistake interfering with my plans. And it's time you paid the price." Cinder rematerialized a dagger that split into six flat spikes. The same spikes that Weiss had seen run through Ruby. "It's time to die!"

Weiss flinched, her eyes closing as Cinder's hand rushed forward. It took her a moment to realize that nothing had happened.

"No…" Cinder rasped, looking down at the white glowing blade that punctured through her chest, puncturing a lung and piercing her heart.

"Yah!" Jaune shouted as he ripped his blade out the side of Cinder's chest as she spun to try to attack one last time. But Cinder was already too slow with her injury as Jaune's blade bit deep into her neck and her head was removed from her body. Jaune stood there just breathing for a minute as the dust finally settled. "Ruby!"

"RUBY!" Weiss's echoed scream drew the attention of all as she rushed to Ruby who was lying on her side in a puddle of her own blood.

"H-hey Weiss… did we win?" Ruby whispered before coughing up blood that trickled down her face. Her breathing turned laboured and gurgling as Weiss felt tears fill her eyes.

"Yeah. We did." Weiss whispered as her team and JNPR gathered around.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This hurt so much to write, I honestly did it bit by bit over the course of several long months. Editing was even worse, but it's finally done.**

 **I understand some may be turned away from the events of this chapter, but I do hope you'll all come back for the next one. This story isn't over. Not yet.**


	19. Bloody Snow: Chapter 19

"Company hold fire!" An order was shouted as a ram faunus with a long black horns led a company of soldiers over the uneven wreckage that was a good portion of the building. He took in the destruction and the flaming wreckage of his previous leader. As second in command, he realized he'd just been promoted. As he turned his attention away from the wreck, he watched as six very ragged looking warriors all turned to face him and his army.

On the left was a scraggly blond with a shield bent almost in half, his blade was chipped and still dripping in the dark crimson from his most recent kill. Next to him was a man with a tattered green robe. A large gash down his arm left it hanging at his side as the other stood ready to draw what looked like a broken knife from his belt. Next to him was a woman with pink hair aiming what appeared to be a grenade launcher at him as she knelt on a bloodied knee. Above her was a woman with gold armour, blackened from the dust of battle and spear poised.

Off to the right, near a missile, was a slab of concrete that had an unmistakable pair of pants and the remnants of the metal limbs that had been crushed beyond repair. The legs of the man Cinder had always kept close to her. And just behind the last two huntresses, the headless body of the witch herself lay in it's own pool of blood and debris.

He turned his attention up to the other two of the huntresses as he took a step forward, motioning for his company to hold position as he did so. The one with blond hair and red eyes looked like she'd just come out of a blender with one of her fists dripping a steady stream of blood as the other aimed her gauntlet at his head. But the one he sought was the faunus with the grey outfit that had most likely once been black. Her amber eyes were searching as he stopped and knelt as a sign of respect that he hoped she'd recognize. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't. Her father, a former leader of the White Fang, had been murdered when she was still a baby, and he'd only been able to keep an eye on her for a short time before she left the organization when she turned twelve.

"Blake Belladonna." He spoke quietly. "With the demise of the previous commander, I now lead the White Fang. And though I do not take your actions against us today lightly, I wish a truce between us."

"Blake?" Yang asked uncertainly as she slowly lowered her gauntlet.

Blake seemed equally surprised by the turn of events. She hadn't seen a sign of respect like this since she was very young. Since before the White Fang had adopted violence and murder as it's mission. "What is it you ask in return?"

"What do we always ask? Equality, though I ask it be through peaceful means. As was the way of our past leaders." Was the simple response he gave. He was met with hesitant silence as Blake looked to Yang. A choked sob from her teammate shook any doubts she had from her mind. There were more important things than discerning the intentions of the new White Fang leadership.

Yang felt her scroll vibrate and opened it to a call from Qrow, drawing Blake's attention.

"Yang, get everyone out of there! We can't hold this line much longer. Hah!" His voice grunted quickly as noises of grimm dying came through the scroll.

"Start falling back toward the castle, we're sending reinforcements." Yang spoke quickly, exchanging a glance with Blake

"Secure the outer wall." Blake ordered the man who had stood back up from his bow. "Assist the hunters already there."

"Enough of my troops have died today. I will not sacrifice more-" He was cut off as Yang grabbed the front of his uniform with her injured hand and poised her remaining gauntlet for a strike. The soldiers behind him all readied their weapons as the JNPR and Blake did the same.

"You haven't evacuated the castle, right?" He carefully shook his head in denial as he glared deep into the red eyes of the blond. "Then you'll go help those hunters or everyone inside will die when the grimm get through."

"As you command." The commander agreed after a moment, and was released from Yang's grip. He turned to his company issuing orders through his headset as Blake turned back to Weiss who was whispering desperately in Ruby's ear.

She turned away and placed her scroll to her ear as she called Ozpin. "Sir, the White Fang will support you and Qrow at the wall. Ruby's down."

* * *

"Please Ruby, stay with me." Weiss pleaded on repeat as if it would help mend the damage done by Cinder.

 _It's okay, Weiss. We won and now you have to get out of here. I'm not going to make it so just let me go. I'll… see you again one day._ Ruby's thought seemed distant in comparison to normal and Weiss felt Ruby slip a little farther away.

"No! Ruby!" Weiss cried as she cradled the fallen huntress's head on her lap. "Please! I need you!"

The onlookers remained silent as they watched, unsure of what to do. The hunters and huntresses with their weapons hanging loosely from their hands and the White Fang taking their leave to fulfil their orders.

 _Please, Weiss. I can feel my body draining the last of your aura. Let me go… my mom is waiting._

"Please, Ruby… don't go… I need you… I love you." Weiss cried as she felt Ruby's aura attempt to pull itself away from her as if Ruby was trying to break their connection.

 _I love you too, Weiss. But you have a life to live. A little sister to protect._ Ruby's words spoken into Weiss's head stopped for a moment as Ruby's body took a strangled breath of air through the damaged lungs in her chest. _I want you to live Weiss. For me…"_

Weiss felt the pull against her aura again, but this time it was stronger. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold the connection much longer as what little aura she had left continued to drain into the void that was her partner, but her willpower ignored this as she redoubled her efforts to keep Ruby tethered to her. She pulled the burn crystal from Ruby's pocket and crushed it onto the wound, hoping to cauterize it, and give Ruby's aura enough time to heal.

 _Weiss, I know you don't want me to go, but I have to…. Everyone has a time, and now is mine. Just… remember me how I was, okay? The girl who fell in love with her beautiful teammate, who loved her so much that it hurt. The one who made you explode on your first day of school. Can you do that?_

Weiss knew she need not answer Ruby, as the emotions she was feeling were all too easy for her fiance to feel over their bond. She nodded through her tears, as Ruby's words sunk in, finally ready to let her cookie-loving scythe wielder go, knowing that the longer she held the connection, the more pain Ruby was forced to endure.

But then one of Ruby's words teased an idea to the front of her mind. And the idea hit her like she'd shaved Yang bald. _Explode._

 _Weiss, what… are you thinking?_ Ruby asked, even her voice in Weiss's head was starting to grow weak and slow. Weiss took a gasp of air as she spun her head to face her friends.

"THE DUST CRYSTALS!" She shouted at everyone who jumped at the loud noise in the relative quiet. "I need them! NOW!"

Everyone stood still in shock for a moment before Blake moved with all her agility, using her semblance to race to the disabled and tipping weapons of mass destruction. She opened the casing of the payload and unceremoniously ripped the small black crystal from it's seat causing a miniature explosion as it was forcibly removed from the metal mount. Electricity arced between the crystal and Blake's arm, and the circuit board until she ripped the crystal farther than a foot away from the missile. Blake ignored the intense burn on her hand and the slight muscle spasms that raced through her body as she threw the crystal to Weiss who immediately asked for another.

Weiss caught the crystal as she felt the first sign that her body was shutting down from the void of aura. Her heart stuttered and she felt a cold sweat break out over her body. When she felt the jolt of pain stab through her chest, Weiss knew she was going into cardiac arrest.

Blake passed Yang who was ripping another crystal out of the next missile, and reached the last one that was left in the launch bay. Her skin on her hand ripped open, spilling blood as she pulled the last crystal out, creating another small explosion. But she threw the crystal to her distraught white-haired teammate with as much accuracy as she could before she fell to the ground in the pain that flared up from her palm, the electricity finally paralysing her limbs. She felt her low aura slowly begin to stitch her skin back together, but knew it would be a long process. She looked up to see Weiss holding all three of the deadly payloads in her hand.

"Everyone back!" Weiss gasped in obvious pain as Yang started to move closer.

 _What are you doing, Weiss?_ Ruby asked from so far away Weiss could barely identify her thought as she felt the world start to swim around her.

"I'm fixing you, dolt." Weiss responded weakly as she slowly concentrated her aura on the crystals, attempting to channel the energy directly into her aura.

 _There's too much power! You'll kill yourself!_

"Maybe. But maybe not. But this is one bet I'll gladly make." Weiss responded as she crushed the three crystals in her hand into black dust as they released their energy into her aura. A flare of white light flashed before Weiss's eyes and then darkness rolled in as she felt every single muscle in her body scream at her. But she could still feel Ruby, still feel the comforting aura entangled with her own, and redoubled her effort to stay attached even as it started slipping. A high pitched screaming echoed in her head as the world around her ripped apart and she felt every place on her body burn in intense pain. But she kept focused on Ruby throughout it all.

 _I don't know if you can hear me, Ruby, but please hang on!_ Weiss thought desperately. Weiss felt Ruby's aura slip away but then start to return. _I love you Ruby._

It didn't take long for Weiss's mind to shut down and blackness to consume the last remnants of her thoughts as the incredible power contained in the crystals continued to send wave after wave of electrical shocks through her aura and into Ruby's. All Weiss could tell for certain is that her connection to her fiance remained solid as everything disappeared.

* * *

"Ugh… where am I?" Ruby mumbled. Her head was pounding fiercely as her pulse continued to rise to a thunder. Everything hurt. Even the things she didn't know were attached to her. Her lungs weren't inflating properly, but they were no longer damaged. Or at least, she didn't think they were. It was as if they were simply being squeezed so as only to allow the smallest of breaths. Her heart, likewise, felt as if there had been a clamp placed around it as every single beat sent a shock of pain through her chest and out to every limb. Her stomach contracted violently, but she was fortunate as there was nothing that came bubbling up her throat. Even so, her limbs felt like lead and the pounding in her head kept right on going as if it were simply there to annoy her. "Ughh…"

Ruby opened her eyes a small sliver, but quickly regretted the decision when impossibly bright light burned into her retinas, blinding her even after she shut her eyes. As she recovered, she started to remember what she thought of as her last memory. It was more like a dream, though. A nightmare.

Looking out of Weiss's eyes at her own body which had been dreadfully torn up from the weapon that had caught her in the chest. A pool of blood spread out beneath the two, soaking into the dirty white of Weiss's combat outfit, staining it further from the pristine glow it always started with. Weiss was saying something but she couldn't figure out what it was and she was dimly aware of movement in her peripherals, but beyond that she couldn't tell.

Ruby dismissed the dream and tried to open her eyes, more slowly this time. The searing white still sent a spike into her pulsing head but it wasn't as uncomfortable as it was before. She stared blankly at the light as her eyes slowly adjusted to bring into focus a very bright blue, verging on white, curve of… something she'd never seen before, yet felt like she had.

She squinted at the material and could barely make out what looked like small circles with spikes all joined at the edges. They seemed to sit on a flat, glass-like surface that separated them from what appeared to be several more layers of the material. She could almost feel the energy pulsing through the material, but it didn't bother her. It was like she'd felt that sensation before, but she couldn't place where.

She stared at the curved ceiling as she simply rested, letting her heart rate slowly fall as her stomach continued to churn. Her lungs were still only receiving a small amount of air, but it was enough for her to remain comfortable. She felt as if on the edge of sleep, but unable to fall into the dark abyss.

Maybe she was lying there for hours or maybe years, or maybe even just a few seconds, but she didn't know. It seemed she had no concept of time in the steady glow of the small dome that encased her. And after some indeterminate span of time had passed, she could feel her muscles in her left hand fall back under her control with sharp needles prickling into her skin as if she'd cut off circulation for too long.

And that's when it hit her. Her circulation had been cut off because her dream had been real. She must be dead.

Ruby could feel a laugh bubble up from her restricted lungs. A spiteful, bitter, sad laugh that brought tears to her eyes, yet made only the slightest of sounds as her throat burned in protest of it's sudden use. She laughed until she ran out of breath and then cried. She could barely feel the heat of her tears running from the corner of her eyes to the ground beneath her as much of her body had yet to reawaken to her commands.

She carefully tried to move her hand but it seemed to be caught on something. She tried again, being unable to look down due to the way her chin was tilted up. As she tried a third time, she felt something strange as feeling started to return as the prickling retreated. In her hand was something soft yet also had a slightly gritty texture. Immediately she recognized it as some sort of cloth, and more specifically, some sort of cloth she'd felt before. But where, she couldn't immediately place.

As she continued shifting, attempting to move her hand out from under whatever had her hand pinned, she started to register heat. Not anything uncomfortable, just that the fabric she touched was over something that was surprisingly warm.

Using this new piece of sensory information, Ruby carefully moved her hand along the firm warmth that rested from the floor to her hip. When she reached her hip she felt something else, something familiar and unforgettable.

Ruby felt for the clasp and the belt that she knew by both by sight as well as feel and gasped as she felt the symmetrical grooves that she'd felt before, if only briefly at the time.

"Wei…" Ruby's breath wheezed as she tried and failed to move her jaw. She slowly felt the familiar pins start stabbing her face as she practiced moving her jaw and attempted to move her head.

With her muscles screaming in protest, she succeeded, finally able to look down and around what looked like a small dome of light. Except as her eyes continued adjusting, light wasn't right. She could make out the solid boundary of a tangible object that was glowing brightly. And atop her chest rested the one person she didn't want to see in the afterlife. Her girlfriend. Weiss.

No, that wasn't right. Weiss had been her fiance. Her fiance was lying across her chest, her weight pressing down just enough to restrict Ruby's breathing. And Ruby started to panic when she observed her fiance's left hand crusted in a large black burn that ran most of the way up her arm beneath the shredded remains of her jacket sleeve.

"Weiss!" Ruby called as she desperately fought with all her willpower against pain that flared into her limbs as she called on them to move. "Weiss!"

Of course, Weiss didn't hear as she continued to lay slumped on the scythe wielder.

Ruby finally was able to control her pain enough to move her arm all the way to Weiss's neck and feel a light but steady pulse. Ruby almost collapsed in relief at the light thrum coming from her partner. Ruby cautiously reached out with her aura and felt Weiss exactly where she expected to find her. The aura seemed different though, more… vivid.

It was like everything was more powerful, more… there.

And then the pain in Ruby's limbs eased as if her aura was working at incredible speeds. It took her a minute due to the inherent stiffness still plaguing her joints, but Ruby was able to shift Weiss onto her back and kneel beside her as the tears started anew.

"You weren't supposed to die too." Ruby whispered thickly through her sadness. Nevertheless, she leaned down and pressed her lips to Weiss's as even more tears started dripping.

Again, time seemed to race by at a crawl while Ruby gently kept her lips pressed to her fiance's. Her chest was shaking with the restrained sobs of her crying as tears continually leaked out. At some point, Ruby found herself shifting her position to hold Weiss's head off the cold ground as she continued to pepper soft kisses on the heiress's lips.

It was much later that Ruby felt her lips become trapped and a tongue poke at the small opening between them. She cried even harder as Weiss lead her into a kiss that spoke only of the love that they felt. Their aura mingled in sync, giving each the strength to remain calm.

After a moment, Ruby pulled back to look into the brilliant blue eyes of her fiance. Eyes that shone with warmth and kindness that only ever appeared for a select few. The gaze told everything about the love Weiss had for her.

"Hey…" She whispered through her tears.

"Hey back." Weiss responded weakly. Ruby watched her eyes flit around them before coming back to meet hers. "I feel very ill… but seeing you makes it feel better."

"Yeah, it goes away after a while." Ruby replied while rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the stiffness that was starting to bother her.

"Are we…" Weiss trailed off, not wishing to voice the worry that nagged at her.

"I think so." Ruby replied with a sad smile, allowing tears to drip from her chin onto the ground where they froze.

It took a moment for the statement to sink in before Weiss replied. "I'm not sorry."

The hurt and pain in those three words forced more tears from Ruby's eyes as she shook her head in denial.

"Why would you do this?" Ruby asked through her own heartache, already mourning the person talking to her now. "Why would you just throw your life away like that?"

"I already told you, dolt." Weiss replied with a small grin that turned to a grimace as she carefully lifted her right hand to Ruby's cheek. "You're everything to me. You're what made everything in my life worth it. I love you."

Ruby simply nodded and remained there, holding Weiss's head in her arms and resting against her outstretched hand as tears flooded down her face. If this really was the afterlife, Ruby felt that at least she was lucky enough to be there with the one person she valued more than anything. Even if it was selfish, she just wanted to stay like this for the rest of eternity.

Alas, it was not to be as Weiss started to shift as she regained control of her limbs. A growl caused Ruby's eyes to snap open to find Weiss wincing as she gingerly raised her left arm from the ground. Ruby helped Weiss into a sitting position and helped her move her arm into a more comfortable position.

"Does it hurt?" Ruby asked, already expecting the answer, but not knowing if Weiss wanted to talk about it.

"Surprisingly, not as much as I thought it would." Weiss replied, studying the swollen black encasing her dominant arm. She carefully reached her right hand up to the painful looking wound and felt the crispy remains of her skin. Except beneath, she could barely feel the sensation on her arm as if no damage had been done, though the needles still racing up and down her arm didn't help much. She carefully peeled off a piece and found an angry patch of pink skin underneath the charred black crusting and she realized her aura must have repaired the damage relatively recently. "Ruby, help me get this junk off."

"Weiss?" Ruby asked apprehensively as she watched Weiss start to pull piece after crumbling piece from her arm, revealing the pink of fresh skin beneath, smudged only slightly where her fingers pressed the dirt onto the skin. Weiss gave Ruby a glance and offered her arm.

"Just do it fast. It's getting uncomfortable." Weiss said as she scratched at the edge of her arm where the new skin was exposed. Ruby nodded, taking both hands and wrapping them around her arm before slowly sliding them down to her wrist and then over her hand as the burnt mess crumbled and fell away to expose the sensitive new layer of skin that seemed surprisingly healthy. Weiss seemed equally shocked by her arm, but she held onto Ruby's hand with her own as she felt the crisp, vivid sensation of Ruby's skin beneath her own.

"Is that okay?" Ruby asked quietly as she rubbed her thumb over the new skin as if afraid to rip it with her slightly callused thumb.

"Perfect." Weiss replied as she leaned forward to meet Ruby's lips with her own. When they parted, Weiss had tears running down her face which she quickly hid from her fiance by nuzzling into her neck. "I was so afraid I'd lose you."

Ruby didn't say anything, knowing that what she wanted to say would seem like a rejection. She hadn't wanted Weiss to die. She'd wanted her to leave her broken body where it was and escape. She knew that Weiss would probably never do that even if she wasn't given the choice, but it still hurt to know that they were both together because of a single mistake.

"Don't leave me okay?" Weiss asked, the tears gone as she moved back to look into Ruby's silver eyes. Both girls could tell the other had been crying, but it didn't matter. They were together. Ruby nodded and met Weiss's lips with another kiss before she pulled away far enough to look around.

"Where do you think we are?" Ruby asked as she finally felt the chill of the room start to penetrate through her thick, if shredded, combat clothes. Weiss crawled out of Ruby's embrace to the wall of the dome which was just short enough to make it uncomfortable to stand.

"I feel like this is familiar, but I can't tell why." Weiss said as she brushed her hand across the surprisingly smooth surface. She looked through it, angling her head just to see a shifting design block any view of the outside save for some dark blurs that moved slowly as if circling.

Weiss turned her attention to the ground as Ruby inspected the ceiling, knocking on it silently. Weiss had a feeling she knew what Ruby was about to do but was far too slow to stop the energetic huntress from sending her fist into the solid material.

"OW!" Ruby yelped in distress. "Weiss! It hurts!"

"Then you should have thought about that before you tried punching it!" Weiss replied without any frustration. "Come here."

Ruby followed Weiss's directions and then blushed as Weiss lay a kiss on the affected knuckles.

"Better?" Weiss asked as she met Ruby's eyes. Ruby nodded, still slightly shocked before Weiss bent back to the ground, tracing an oddly shaped lump. Ruby had just turned to find something else to look at, but Weiss finally realized what the shape was. "Ruby, I found your scythe!"

"Where?" Ruby rejoined her and Weiss pointed at the floor. She hadn't immediately recognized it as it was extended and the scythe portion was severely damaged, but it still seemed to have it's sniper barrel intact. "How do we get it out?"

"I don't know. Weiss continued feeling the cold surface beneath her. "What is this stuff?! I know I've felt this before!"

"It's familiar to me too." Ruby mumbled at Weiss's outburst. "It seems… kind of similar to how Yang described that shell we used to survive that plane crash. It's cold too, so I can't really think of anything else it could be. Maybe try reaching out with your aura."

"Alright, I'm not sure what that's going to do though… whoa!" Weiss gasped as she felt a massive surge in her aura as she touched the dome with her fingers. When she pulled her hand away, she could see the beginning of a small burn on the tips of her right hand as if the dome had sent enough electricity into her body to start a burn.

"Weiss! Are you okay? Ow!" Ruby asked, reaching out and touching Weiss's arm and receiving a strong static shock.

"It burned me when I touched it. Whatever it is, it has a ridiculous… amount… of…" Weiss trailed off as a spark of understanding registered behind her eyes. "Ruby, get out your scroll."

Ruby pulled the device out and Weiss mirrored her movement before tossing hers aside. It had a large crack and a small hole through the corner and she knew it would be fairly useless unless she ever got out. It also raised the suspicion that her 'final act' hadn't actually failed as Ruby and herself had originally thought. Weiss took Ruby's scroll and unlocked it, guessing correctly that her first name superimposed on the girl's last was the password. She made a mental note that she maybe knew her fiance a little bit too well at this point.

"Look at our auras." Weiss instructed as she pulled up the readings for the team. Yang's and Blake's aura were fairly low and verging on critical while the screen glitched as if it couldn't decide, or rather had a bad connection to the two it was trying to read. But the surprising thing was her own aura and her team leader's. The green bar had far exceeded it's bounds and left the screen with a piece of mathematical gibberish explaining an unanticipated system error.

"It's broken?" Ruby asked tilting her head in confusion. "That's new."

"No, dolt! It's perfectly fine. We just have _way_ too much aura." Weiss explained as she closed her eyes to focus on the power she felt coursing through her limbs. She felt Ruby's aura entwined with her own, and she realized why everything felt different. "Ruby… do you feel… different?"

"No… oh!" Ruby jumped in realization. "My aura feels a little strange, why?"

"Try using your semblance." Weiss replied simply.

"How? It's not like I can run anywhere." Was the response.

Weiss sighed and rubbed her temple. "Just do a karate chop or something."

Ruby shrugged and complied, yelping when her hand almost instantly moved from raised to horizontal, leaving the ghost her arm's image in the air as well as a small smattering of red rose petals.

"Now watch…" Weiss instructed as she moved her arm into the same position Ruby had started from. She performed the move, pulling on the aura she felt connecting Ruby and herself, and was satisfied when her arm seemingly teleported, leaving behind a small cloud of white rose petals.

"What about your glyphs?" Ruby asked as she focused on the floor beside them where the flower petals had fallen.

"Ruby, you've never used my glyphs before. I highly doubt you'll be able to summon one just because… never mind." Weiss sighed as a glyph flickered into life and shattered almost immediately. "Let me show you."

Weiss grinned devilishly as she opened her mental connection with her fiance wider and felt what she'd come to associate with Ruby's presence permeate through her own senses. She decided to use a time glyph on the rapidly wilting petals, focusing it slowly before releasing it as she felt Ruby register the different level of concentration that was needed for the task. When the glyph had run it's course, Weiss pulled up a simple white glyph to send the petals into a small shower around them.

"Whoa…" Ruby breathed in awe as she felt Weiss work. And then she gasped as her mind snapped back into her own body just to see Weiss turn her head to meet her eyes as red and white rose petals fluttered around them. Ruby couldn't think any further as she saw the… joy in her fiance's eyes and she leaned in to claim her fiance's lips one more time.

Weiss controlled the pace of their kiss, as Ruby simply melted with all the love she felt both physically and mentally flowing from Weiss's aura. But that wasn't quite right. It was more 'their' aura now as even if she could tell where hers ended and Weiss's began, they melded perfectly into a single form when they came in contact.

"So you've realized it too." Weiss spoke as she broke the kiss with a smile. "Our aura's have joined."

"Are you sure? Do you think it's too late to fix?" Ruby asked carefully. "I mean what about the risks?"

"Well… I don't think this is normal to begin with, so no. There's no way I can be sure, but I don't think we can separate anymore." Weiss said as she tested her aura which seemed to stubbornly ignore her command to retract from Ruby's. No, there wouldn't be any separation now. "I think we'll just have to deal with the risks."

"But-"

"Don't go dying on me, Ruby." Weiss joked half seriously as she pulled Ruby into a hug. "That's how we got into this mess to begin with, you dolt."

"You mean…"

"We're alive." Weiss replied with a smile. "And I hate to say it, but it's all thanks to our enemies."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, letting Weiss go as she turned back to place her hand on the hard, cold wall that once again did nothing more than send a shiver of frost through her bones.

"This… ice… or whatever it is, is from my semblance. And it's supercharged." Weiss said as she dropped her hand to look back at Ruby. "You were dying, Ruby. I was so terrified of losing you, I was desperate for any possible way to save you…. I think when I took those void crystals and used their power to charge our auras, I must have blacked out and my semblance needed a place to send the extra energy that your body couldn't use, and our auras couldn't absorb. And so since my semblance seems to have a subconscious outlet, it created this as a sort of battery to hold the extra charge…. Does that make sense?"

"Nope. But none of this really does, so let's move on to the next part where you tell me how we're going to get out." Ruby nodded as if agreeing with the heiress.

"If we survive all of this, I'm making you study dust mechanics." Weiss mumbled as she gave Ruby a light flick on the forehead. "I already tried touching it with my aura-"

"And it shocked you." Ruby finished. She was pouting at the flick she'd received, but she knew she had been asking for it. "You know, if it's like electricity we could just ground it."

"Thats…" Weiss trailed off as she thought of Ruby's idea. "Actually… brilliant."

Weiss reached out to the dome again, making Ruby flinch as Weiss's hand stopped just an inch away. She projected her aura outward to the ground beneath them and then to their cage. An arch of electricity like a miniature lightning bolt flew toward her hand, then hit the ground, and becoming continuous. Weiss kept concentrating on the protective shield she was projecting as the glow slowly died off from the dome and a deep sound like the cracking sound of thousands of pounds of ice shifting echoed through the dome.

"That's it." Weiss asked as she took Ruby's hand in her own. This time there was no shock. "Together?"

"Always." Ruby's hand joined Weiss's on the wall of the dome. Her fingers immediately entwined with her partner's, drawing a small smile from Weiss's lips. And together they pushed the now weak and crumbling material away as they stood in the crisp evening air.


	20. Epilogue

_One year later..._

* * *

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Pyrrha Nikos also known as Team JNPR." Ozpin paused as the four stepped up on his right. "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long also known as Team RWBY."

The four stepped up on Ozpin's left and applause sounded as Ozpin lead them.

"These two teams were instrumental in stopping a terrorist plot to destroy all four kingdoms, and then fought in no less than one hundred missions to help secure this city as the first truly free kingdom on Remnant." Ozpin said to louder cheers, especially from the faunus in the crowd. "But we stand here today, not to celebrate the success of these hunters, but to mourn for those who lost their lives in this needless conflict. A conflict many of you know is far from over. I'd now like to ask Weiss Schnee to speak for these teams."

Weiss took Ruby's hand and together they took the podium as Ozpin stepped to the background. Ruby nodded to Weiss who nodded in return and let out a long slow breath to focus. In the crowd, she could just make out the tiny head of her sister who was sitting atop Qrow's shoulders.

"Today we remember all those that lost their lives in the battle and fall of Vale, to those killed by the Atlesian tournament, and to those lost to the bombs that detonated near Atlas." Weiss started, the audience silent as they remembered the horrors they'd either seen or heard of from the media over the past couple years. "We remember those brave souls who have fought next to us and fallen while retaking this great kingdom. And even though they were not on our side at the time, we mourn the members of the White Fang that were killed at White Castle, many by my own hand. But let us also remember their sacrifices and those who crafted their deaths. For without the terrorists responsible, none of these tragedies would have come to pass. So today I ask that you mourn for your friends, family, and community. And know that the evil that almost destroyed all we hold dear has been put to an end."

Weiss paused to let her words sink in and felt Ruby's aura wordlessly urging her on. The crowd remained silent, the grim attitude of Weiss's statements hanging on them heavily.

"Today, as much as I wish I could say it, we are not at peace. Atlas and Mistral have continued their hostilities to a lesser extent. And the grimm activity in the surrounding areas have more than tripled in the last month alone." Weiss stopped there, looking from the left of the crowd to the right while making eye contact with as many as she could. "No, we are not at peace. But today, thanks to the sacrifice of faunus and human alike, we are safe. So mourn and rejoice for what was lost and won back. For the friendships cut short and formed anew. And rejoice at the completion of repairs on Vale's wall. Vale has never been safer, and it is you we have to thank. The people of this great kingdom and our partners in Menagerie and Vacuo."

The crowd applauded loudly as Weiss stepped down, taking Ruby's hand again as the two teams left the stage and Ozpin resumed his speech. Ruby led Weiss back toward the building that had been their dorm what felt like a lifetime ago, and stopped as Weiss hesitated, hearing the final words of Ozpin's speech drift over the overgrown lawn.

"Today may be a day for pretty speeches and medals, but we all know the real fight lies ahead of us. And the hunters and huntresses of the newly reopened Beacon Academy will do all that is within our power to uphold this tentative peace. If any of those present believe they have the power to make this world a better place, wherever that may take you, I urge you to act. Because peace can not be achieved by the few. It cannot be achieved passively. So remember those that gave their lives for peace today. And don't let their deaths be in vain."

"He's really something isn't he?" Weiss asked Ruby as she turned to the door Ruby was holding for her.

"Yup. But right now I don't want to think of him. I only want to think of one thing." Ruby giggled as she nuzzled her nose to Weiss's cheek, bringing a blush to her face.

"Dolt." Weiss booped Ruby's nose as she pushed her off.

"Hey! That's Mrs. Dolt to you!" Ruby frowned in mock anger, making Weiss laugh.

"And it's Mrs. Rose to you!" Weiss shot back with a grin that made Ruby melt into a dreamy smile. "And that's why I took your name."

"Huh?" Ruby snapped out of her grin to find Weiss laughing as she lead her up the staircase to their old dorm. Everything seemed to have been placed back the way it had been before they ever arrived.

"So… what do you want to do?" Weiss asked as she moved one of the beds to push right up against the other on their old side of the room. Yang and Blake had thankfully agreed to deal with the formalities of the day, leaving Weiss and Ruby to enjoy their new marriage in peace.

"Well…" Ruby thought as she slowly approached Weiss. "Those beds look awfully comfy, but classes do start back tomorrow. Maybe we should study?"

Weiss smacked her wife lightly on the shoulder at her jest. "Ruby, we probably have more stories to tell than Port at this point. Studying is the last thing on my mind!"

"What have you done with my wife?" Ruby gasped as Weiss spun her back onto the bed. Weiss climbed atop Ruby, straddling her waist while her arms pinned her shoulders to the bed. She leaned down so her breath ghosted past Ruby's ear before responding.

"Nothing, you just figured out how to get the fun side out." Weiss whispered seductively before licking Ruby's ear, causing her to gasp and shiver.

"O-okay, that's hot. And totally not fair!" Ruby complained once she'd drawn another breath. "And I thought we'd done this before."

"Maybe, but we weren't married yet." Weiss replied with a lick to Ruby's neck in the spot she knew was sensitive to her touch before suckling on, not caring whether she left a mark or not.

"T-there's a difference?" Ruby half gasped, half moaned as their shared aura forced her senses wide open. She found Weiss's eyes as she recovered from the sudden assault.

Weiss grinned as she leaned in and took Ruby's lips with her own. "I don't know. So why don't you tell me?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well, that's a wrap!**

 **This has been a fun journey with many ups and downs, but it's finally over. Thank you all for your kind words and criticisms, your follows and favourites, and your interest in not just this, but other works of mine as well.**

 **This is the longest work I've ever attempted, and it may well remain that way for some time. But I will be back, writing for my other stories, and creating new ones as well.**

 **So, one last time, I thank you all for reading RWBY: Bloody Snow.**

 **Your wordsmith,**

 **Spat915**


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